Ever After is a series of works exploring notions of ritual, meditation, and the act of memorializing. The work was inspired by my neighbor who was murdered by her partner at home just a few houses down from my own. I had been grappling with war casualties in recent work at the time, researching American monuments and memorials, and was specifically interested in who we memorialize and how we erect those monuments as signifiers of our collective values and identity. In reflecting on the tragedy in my own neighborhood, I understood that no memorial would be erected for my neighbor nor for any other casualties of domestic violence. The pieces then became a practice in acknowledging loss as well as a gesture of materializing what often is invisible. The materials used are common household items, and the scale of each piece is small, un-monumental, in order to situate it in an intimate domestic space. The repetitive nature of the work (tying, piercing, stacking, layering, etc) speaks to the futility of any piece to adequately memorialize all that has been lost.
materials: velum, graph paper, cotton paper, unraveled fabric, used books, broom, twine, rope, thread, graphite, map pins, ink, nail polish, pine needles, plaster, linen, wood, gouache, dressmaker pins
All images taken by Dana Rogers of a two-person exhibition with Colleen Merrill titled Tending Edges at the Living Arts and Science Center, Lexington, KY, 2019.
