'Caring for You' is a data visualization project of sorts, materializing four generations of women (and a doll) captured in a typical staged family photograph from 1905. Three of the women in the photograph are mothers, two grandmothers, one is a great grandmother; all four are daughters. Three distinct and interlinked mother-daughter pairs, arguably the most charged of all family relationships. Such pairs form the links in a matrilineal chain connecting us to the very first humans. Passed down through generations, held captive in the complex bond of the mother-daughter relationship, are familial schemas evident in our expectations and realizations, fears, shortcomings and strengths. With 'Caring for You' I wanted to create a means for honoring, nurturing and hold, literally and figuratively, the women before me.
At the core of 'Caring for You' are five uncanny sculpted and sewn baby-dolls. The dolls are the size of a one-month-old baby while their heads look like women of various ages. They realistically depict four generations of my maternal ancestors, the youngest, a baby, became my grandmother. The dolls were shown in a living-room setting with an armchair, small table, and a shelf for the dolls. On the table was a large snow globe/crystal ball. Inside the globe is a sculpted mountain, hair from my dead mother, ashes from my dead cat and other heavily charged substances. There was an animation made from the original photograph in an antique frame. The women in the photograph nod their heads ever so slightly and blink. The audience was encouraged to hold he dolls. The installation included a pillow with visualization of the mitochondrial DNA the women, and I, all share, and a crocheted representation of eight generations of my matriarchal genealogical network.