...sitting with a system in decline, learning from its history, offering palliative care, seeing oneself in that which is dying, attending to the integrity of the process, dealing with tantrums, incontinence, anger and hopelessness, ‘cleaning up’, and clearing space for something new. This is unlikely to be a glamorous process; it will entail many frustrations, an uncertain timeline, and unforeseeable outcomes without guarantees.

-Vanessa Andreotti

A few years ago my father died in hospice care. It was a beautiful and tender period amid a sometimes gruesome process. I learned from the hospice caregivers that this was not the time or place to fight against what was happening or what was to come but rather, it was a place of witnessing, of acceptance and of offering care. I return to the idea of “hospicing” - from the word hospice, as an apropos foundation upon which to create my work at this time.

Hospicing as a point of view allows the horror and suffering to remain but recede into the background as space for tenderness and beauty is allowed. In hospice what really matters is loving kindness - acknowledging the reality of the suffering but instead of it being the focus and adversary, a tender touch and kind gesture are paramount. It doesn’t deny the loss and pain but refuses to let that get in the way of love.

So, the world burns and floods. People, animals, plants, even the air suffer. I witness this and have begun to address it with the recent sculptures. But lately and very quietly I’ve begun to yearn for something more nuanced and multi-faceted. It’s not quite like hope or some forced positive attitude but something more like this and that vs. this or that. How does one create an artwork which embodies the qualities of hospice? How does one allow for loss and suffering while simultaneously allow resilience and marvel? Perhaps there is little need to overtly address the suffering. Maybe it suffuses the work quietly, like a fading scent.