Conversation is usually exhibited as an experiential book installation with 31 fabric "pages" and a tape recorder. For the website some changes were made: this site does not currently include the sound component of the project (my mom's voice on the tape), the text which accompanies each image is typed, not handwritten and the images are from the original digital files, not the fabric transfers.

Conversation is a conversation between my mother and myself. It also tells a story about patterns of time and communication.

My mother, who has had schizophrenia since age 20 was, at the time of this piece, experiencing a dementia-like condition caused by a variety of factors including cognitive loss from years of anti-psychotic drugs and shock therapy, isolation, old age, poor nutrition and improper medication. Her part of the conversation is auditory: a series of messages left almost daily, and sometimes more than once a day, on my answering machine. Because I could not process these messages through normal communication with my mom, I started a series of drawings that are my reactions to the messages. The written text is sometimes prompted by my reaction to the image, sometimes by memories that came up as I listened to the tapes. This is my part of the conversation. What you bring to it as you read and listen is the 3rd part of the conversation.

Schizophrenia Links

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