Louise: 200 portraits of my mom, (penitentes)
199 

2019

dimensions variable

The grief of my mother’s loss surrounds me as this installation surrounds the viewer: empty and blank but quietly filled with reminders of her. As the months without her grow the details of her face and voice fade. This installation is a cascade of moments revealed through layers of white paint which obscure the photo’s details as if fading into memory. Creating this work allowed me to transform the gravity of my grief, clarifying the role of my artistic practice in healing.

Each individual photograph captures a moment, a memory, of my childhood - a time when my mom was healthy and full of life. In painting over the photos and exposing her face with my hands, I uncover deep memories of my mother, seeking to remember her for who she truly was before illness and death took her.

I willingly erase all other details and focus only on her features and her

fierce love for her family; something I yearn for every day. By capturing these frozen moments of her life, I seek to communicate the duality of deep loss and celebration of her life.