How Art Heals-WEB

71 30. Rose Clancy WWW.ROSECLANCY.COM PENNSYLVANIA, USA “I create site-specific installations and assemblage sculptures that com- ment on abuses human beings inf lict upon one another within interper- sonal relationships. My work focuses on the contrast between neglect and nurturing and explores internal and external transformations that occur within the process of healing from traumatic emotional injury. “My work is informed by my lifelong experience with my mother’s mental illness of major depression, and by my personal journey through the pro- cess of healing from complex posttraumatic stress disorder in the years following my mother’s death. “Dangerous Objects Made Safe: Yardage is an ongoing series of public art sculptures comprising hundreds of dangerous rusty objects, each wrapped individually in cotton fabric. The sculptures are situated in outdoor spaces, where they receive exposure to natural elements for an extended period of time, ranging from four weeks to six months. As the sculptures are soaked repeatedly with rainfall, iron oxide leaches from the rusty objects and is absorbed into the fabric. At the close of the project, the sculpture is dismantled, and the encapsulated objects are unwrapped to reveal the inner transformation of the fabric.” My goal for the Dangerous Objects Made Safe: Yardage project is to turn, visually, negatives (neglected rusty objects) into positives (brightly colored rust-stained fabric), and to provide a period of time between these two stages for public observation of the process of transformation. It is my hope that this project will serve as a catalyst for healing in others affected by long-term trauma, and that it will encourage public conversation about social stigmas attached to the topics of interpersonal abuse and mental illness.