“Dying in the south is silent, and dull, and it’s hot, it’s watching mosquitoes and flies in a screen door left open for hours.”
“Death in the South”
Interpretations of the artist’s earliest experience and disappointment with death; the waiting for and watching of her 103 year old Great Grandmother’s death. The exact memory is of her aunts picking up her Great Grandmother out of the hospital bed she was kept, in the living room, so that she could be moved to a normal bed to die in. When they picked her up she let out the most unusual wails. She was in pain and could not communicate to them. This artwork shares the questions the artist had at that moment. How much had shut down and how much was still there? Was she tired of waiting? Did she know they were trying to help? If she did know why yell? How much did it hurt? How much did she feel when she wasn’t being moved? This piece dramatizes the contrast of this scene of the frail white woman death howling while being carried by her healthy and capable black granddaughters, who despite their loving intentions could not console her. Even at the very end of her life at 103 (going on 104) surrounded by multiple generations of loved ones, dying at home there was no comfort for her.
“Death in the South” is a large fabric collage stretched over a wooden frame. The younger generation of women are depicted with full shaped bodies and floral print on black fabric. The Great grandmother is covered in intricate and various off white lace both to establish her white passing status but also the premeditation that comes with dying of purely old age (the funeral clothes and coverings already picked out and purchased before death).
