_HEALING ARCHIVES

Healing Archives is a visual translation of the physicality of memory, feelings, dreams and thoughts brought on by the reparation of open heart surgery. Using weaving as a metaphor for the suture and the connection between pain and strength, this series explores the categorization and compartmentalization of remembering pain and healing through visual elements of colour. Through texture and tension, these loom tapestries interlock the dichotomy between distinction and connection as it relates to the intense process of recovery.

    _index serves as a colour-based coding legend to accompany the series; An exploration into the artist’s process; A legend to follow through the mind map.



_index

Black - immobility; a Dilaudid dependence; monochromatic, hazy shades of tiredness.

Off-White - eyes open; seeing, feeling; consciousness.

Red - scar; tissue; is it possible to close your eyes and see one colour when you think of your recovery? if yes, the answer is red.

Dark Blue, Purple - at first, melancholy; lethargic; later, strength; this one plays both sides.

Green - the warmth from loved ones; visits at the hospital; staying overnight, on the couch, holding my hand; consistency; sometimes remembered by the expired roll of film with the green hue.

Miscellaneous - all the colour combinations; reminders that healing is not linear; nor is it straight forward and binary; rather, it is muddy brown, the in-between, the grey area.