SPIRAL FOR LISBETH

Spiral for Lisbeth is about the relationship between my mother and me. This piece is 5’3” tall and 5’3” wide and is constructed of bubble-wrap strips that are 5’3” in length that are sewn together by hand. This measurement represents the height that she was and that I am.

Betty Friedan’s book, “The Feminine Mystique”, forever changed my mother’s life. She read it when she was a young mother and realized that she did not have to play the role of wife, cook, seamstress and mother in order to define her existence. A gradual shift began to take hold within her. When I was about twelve, she went to work as a social worker. Though her work outside the home gave her a sense of purpose, she had trouble balancing her role as wife and mother of three with her job. When I was a teenager she took a leave of absence from her job to deal with stress and depression. When she eventually returned to work, she spent many evenings in bed. It was during this time that I became the caretaker the mender and began to focus my life on my family members.

The bubble wrap in this piece is a metaphor for protection. Though I wished for my mother to be the protector, it is I who played that role once she left my father. I began to make Spiral for Lisbeth when my mother passed away as a way of trying to bring her back to me. Though she was not perfect, she was my mother. The shape of a spiral is about how our lives were interwoven and connected despite our differences. The sewing and the time it took to form this piece reflect an obsessive desire to come full circle, transcending our roles as caretakers. Though it remains thoroughly abstract, this spiral is about how I have helped her finish her work further weaving a continuous bond between us.