I grapple with a continuing foundational question between my Serbian and American home. This tension is at the center of my struggle to mold a present existence into a future resolution between two disparate worlds. My focus is on generation of women in my family, my grandmother, my mother, my daughter and me. I work to portray the resilience, flexibility, and adaptability that has been passed down the line. I imagine female form, strong and balanced, resting as the foundational material for generations to come. I find parallels between structural, foundational home building and women’s physical and mental power as mother, wife, and daughter. Materials that I continue to use - brick, wax and mortar - remind me that what is strong and durable can also be vulnerable and ephemeral. This reality in which the two opposite states coexist is also true of the human condition and its relationship with nature. We often show our strong and dominant side while concealing what is passive and fragile. I also want to symbolize commemoration of people and places. By using specific, sentimental objects (my grandfather’s cane for example), my goal is to evoke presence and absence, past and future.
