ARTIST'S STATEMENT
Grief Work
According to bereavement specialist and psychologist William Worden, the grieving process – grief work -- can be categorized into four steps. The last step, which involves emotionally relocating the person who has been lost, generally happens when the bereaved has healed significantly and has moved forward with life yet still requires a spiritual and symbolic connection with the deceased. Grief work is a highly individualized journey and people who are grieving interpret this last step in a variety of ways. “Grief Work” is my interpretation.
This body of work is the result of a personal experience that began in March 2006. As he typically did at that time, my husband, Kevin Kelly, planted lettuce seeds in our garden. The following month, Kevin died suddenly and without any warning. At the end of May, on what would have been our 25th wedding anniversary, I picked the mature lettuce leaves and pressed them in a pad of drawing paper. I remember feeling compelled to do this, although I had no idea where the energy or motivation came from because I was still in shock. After pressing the leaves, I put the pad of paper in a safe place and then forgot all about it. A year later, when I opened the pad, I discovered that pressing the leaves, which had been very wet, between the artist’s paper had created the perfect environment for growing mold. It was, in effect, an experiment that began with seeds planted by my husband, a science teacher, and ended with the images that you see here.
This project has been the result of much hard work and time. The images are scans of the original objects that have been manipulated slightly so as to play with the multi-dimensional effect of the leaves. They are then printed on art paper similar to the originals. “Grief Work” is a true collaboration – and connection – between Sue and Kevin, art and science, life and death.