How Art Heals-WEB

41 18. Merill Comeau WWW.MERILLCOMEAU.COM MASSACHUSETTS, USA “Deconstructing and reconstructing textiles allows me to process personal and collective trauma. I mend and repair, literally and symbolically, as an act of exorcizing memory and building hope. “My installation Family of Origin includes three pieces. The first is Foundational Garments , a rack of shirts once worn by my now-deceased mother that I altered and embellished to represent my ongoing exploration of family and gender expectations of women. Each piece has a tag with a quote from a family member about how proper women should behave. For example, Straight Laced is adorned with drawings of my childhood and zigzagged lacing representing the confusing messages we receive as we go through sexual development. “The second is Cockcrowing , a wall-hanging created in part from children’s nursery fabric that I composted, laundered, and reassembled. It represents the reordering of my childhood narrative and the rising of the sun on a new day.