Responding to nature and change in a series that surveys change over the course of a year of walking the creeks near my home in Maryland, I initiated this series to examine my strong identification with the stones moved by the currents.
With a trajectory much like my own migrant life, creek stones are picked up and carried by rushing water, dropped somewhere downstream to settle for a time and then picked up again and moved on to settle in a new place. I collected rocks from the creeks and direct-painted their shapes on each of the pieces, selecting and creating additional fabrics to reflect seasonal changes and the effects of weather on land, forest, water and sky.
My Hearing the Quiet series explores the impact of change on our perceptions of what surrounds us. I found strong parallels and connections crossing between rural and urban; natural spaces and populated constructed places; human and natural phenomena. The river rocks became metaphors for people who are dispersed and and how they react to change and cultures other than their own: resident, native, migrant, refugee, expat, exile.