Shining DESPAIR
Holland Houdek
USA

Neckpiece « Hysteroscopy », 2023
Copper, crystals, patina, 406x89x6.35mm
Hand-fabrication, stone setting
Photo : Grant Taylor

Neckpiece « Oophorectomy », 2023
Copper, crystals, patina, 390x110x10mm
Hand fabrication, stone setting
Photo : Grant Taylor

Words fail in the face of miscarriage. Our thoughts, like our bodies, betray us. Grief, isolation, shame, blame, and other unnamable feelings cloud one’s ability to articulate the pain of this harrowing yet all-to-common natural event. Against the inadequacy of language and the silences that surround this taboo subject, I turned to the process of making to confront this unnamable loss and to help shift my and other people’s perceptions of miscarriage and pregnancy loss. The pieces in this series helped me to un-make and re-make that deep and embodied pain into something transformative. They call attention to the need to find personal ways to cope, persevere, and make sense of life in the face of loss, while reminding women and people with uteruses who have had similar experiences that they are not alone.

More « Shining DESPAIR »

Shining Despair – Eliane-Catrie Blouin Achim / Canada

With the Rose Cochon series, Éliane-Catrie Blouin Achim expresses a profound sense of despair.

Shining Despair – Esteban Erosky / Mexico-Spain

Our ability to transform things is so powerful …

Shining Despair – Laurel Fulton / USA

We experience the world in the only way we can, through and with our bodies.

Shining Despair – Deimezi Xenia / Greece

Behind and in front of what is visible.

Shining Despair – Anna Timar / Hungary

These necklaces represent the duality of emotions within us.

Shining Despair – Katherine Mc Namara / Ireland

I have been saving the plastic packaging of my cigarette filters for several years.

Shining Despair – Sara Shahak / Israel

« Flowers are weak creatures, naive. They reassure themselves as best they can.

Shining Despair – Sunyoung Cheong / USA

As an immigrant mother and artist from South Korea, my work reflects the dualities of migration …

Shining Despair – Uri Samet / Israel

From circumstances defined mostly by despair, anguish and darkness – small fragments of light emit.

Shining Despair – Spam Glam / UK

Extreme changes in my life have caused me so much anguish …