zine and video installation: SOIL Gallery
GALLERY LOCATION:
112 3rd Ave S
Seattle, WA 98104
Always on: Art and Motherhood
May 04 – 29, 2021
Spring/Covid-19 Gallery Hours:
Friday–Sunday, 12pm–5pm and by appointment
Opening Reception: Thursday, May 6th, 6-8pm
TITLE: Drowning, Not Floating
ARTIST STATEMENT:
I’ve always lived near the water. I feel a closeness with the ebb and flow and flotsam and jetsam. Despite my connection with the water, I’ve never been a strong swimmer. A near drowning experience at 10, when I was caught under an inner tube at Water Country USA, gave me a lot of fear about the water. I kept my distance but still could never be too far away, just in case one day I wanted to slide in and go under. Nearly all of my death dreams involve drowning. Sometimes my car veers off the road and I sink into the water. Sometimes a wave overtakes me and I’m caught in a rip tide. I’m always alone. Statistically, most drownings occur in solitude or when others are present but unaware of a victim’s situation.
A few months after my son, Arlo, was born, I started taking swimming lessons. For the first time in nearly 30 years, I found myself floating in the water and feeling an overwhelming sense of freedom. Over the course of 2 years, I gained strength and confidence and built a new relationship with the water. Last spring, when everything turned upside down and I could no longer swim at the community center, I felt lost and unable to float. I was drowning.
The work included in this show is a collaboration between Arlo and I. Drowning, Not Floating, is a collection of words and images exchanged between us in the deepest, darkest moments of solitude in 2020. On our daily walks to Lake Washington at Pritchard Beach, I sought out moments of relief; from the loneliness, the crush of anxiety, the precarious balance of motherhood, teaching, studio practice, and everyday life. These short videos and mini zines are my attempt at containing those moments of relief and reminders of the things that float, even when the water around me is rising.