Suzanne DeCuir
Shroud, 2021
cotton, tulle, satin, damask, thread 6' x 6'
his is the kind of delicate and personal shroud I felt should have been made for my mother who died last year. Instead, my sister, daughter, and I watched and I cringed as the funeral directors efficiently wrapped her in a plain rough-looking piece of canvas and whisked her away. It was unsettling to say the least. So I made something more personal with bits of fabric belonging to both of us, some fabric with flower pigment impressed upon it, etc. and I stitched it together by hand.
Suzanne DeCuir
Detail from Length of our Days, 2023
cotton, muslin, thread, wood, metal 7' x 24'
This detail references my Aunt Frances who stopped speaking at age 12. Her family was not equipped to deal with her symptoms, it was during the Depression and money was tight. They committed her to Norwalk Metropolitan Hospital at age 16 where she was diagnosed with schizophrenia.
Suzanne DeCuir
The Length of our Days, 2023
cotton, muslin, thread, wood, metal 7 ' X 24'
This river of cloth traces 300 years of my ancestry from France to Louisiana; it includes slaveholders and the enslaved, the known and the scarcely known.
