Mapping My Life

Tuesday of last week I scrapped my previous idea of Mapping hell according to me. Instead I got my hands on a map of river falls and surrounding cities, where one of my best friends and I grew up. We did everything together. Her mother was my hair dresser, my piano teacher, and my babysitter. My friend, Tina was like another sister to me. She was my best friend in middle school. She was the only one I could talk to when I needed to the most. She taught me how to paint my nails, got me hooked on my still current favorite band, introduced me to a couple of my current best friends we celebrated our birthdays together since she was only 2 weeks older than me. She saved my life and last year she took her own February 26 2010. She hung herself. Since that phone call I haven't been able to get it out of my head. In sculpture and painting II last spring I used my projects to make a commentary about what happened. I kept hoping it would get it out of my system. But it hasn't yet. My painting concept this semester is extremely symbolic and is a narrative on what happened and how. Since she hung herself Ive really emphasized the use of rope. I also use a broken pearl necklace and hung it from the rope the pearls represent order and the fact that the necklace was broken and beads were missing suggests that there is a lack of order and the broken necklace is a commentary on her broken neck and the aftermath. the objects were organized in a hanging still life in front of a red cloth. The still life seems rather empty but that is exactly what I want the viewer to feel. I love the work of Felix Gonzalez-Torres. Unless you know the story you don't totally understand what is going on in the work. That is similar to what I'm trying to do with this body of work.  For my drawing project I drew the still life on the map of River Falls to narrate what happened, where, and how.