Historically, reliquaries are containers used to preserve the remains of an individual, and often are illustrative in nature. With my work I attempt to honor the history of my family.
Having thoroughly researched my family’s past, whether through taped interviews of elderly members or digging through generations old documents, I investigated the lost biographies of those who had died long ago. The everyday experiences they shared interested me the most, and how they interacted with the people whose lives intersected their own. My pieces open and close, representing the dynamics of human relationships we experience in life. The found materials I incorporate in each work also play an important role in narrating the stories of the individual.
(photographs by Matt Shapiro)