Marking Time 91

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Artist: Christine Aaron

Title: Marking Time 91

Attribution: Marking Time 91, 2022, Christine S. Aaron

Year: 2022

Materials: tea bag, rusted metal, thread

Dimensions: 3 x 2.27 inches

Image Statement: Marking Time During the pandemic, enduring shelter-at-home orders, I think about the myriad stories experienced world-wide. There is already much fear, uncertainty and tumult in this country and beyond, and now this worldwide viral threat, not yet understood, but spreading rapidly. Misinformation, screaming headlines, and dire prognostications. I wonder what I will hold onto from these difficult months and what connects us. I fight to hold onto hope, to believe there is a way forward, that solutions and good can prevail, that beauty remains important. In my studio I sort through collected ephemera. Objects resonant with memories of people, places, and experiences: hand-dyed silk cocoons, salvaged teabags, birds’ nests, thorns, vintage dress patterns and sheet music, browned and brittle with discoloration reminiscent of watercolor, seed pods and rusty metal pieces. I collage materials onto tea bag canvases; stitched and pierced with thread and thorns. Each, a meditation reclaiming memory and personal history brought into my present experience. It is reparative, healing, and a psychological and emotional anchor in tumultuous times. I continue this series to present day. As the world around me remains chaotic, uncertain and (tumultuous, painful etc). I layer and stitch with a stubborn insistence of hope, a resistance to fear, and a marking of time. Using what is on hand, making do and creating a physical record as declaration and as witness.