With This Ring I Thee Wed
"With This Ring I Thee Wed" draws from ancient rituals of commitment, union, and sacrifice, expressed through a handmade V-shaped box frame. This layered exploration of love, loss, and spiritual initiation is veiled in a mysterious and ominous aesthetic.
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Central to the work are two inverted plaster casts of my footprints, symbolizing presence, identity, and spiritual journeys. These casts mark remnants of past lives, echoing occult practices where foot positioning signifies initiation and chosen paths. Above them, 12 apothecary jars filled with quartz embody transformation and cosmic cycles, with quartz amplifying energy and the number 12 symbolizing completion and spiritual attainment.
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Triangles feature prominently, reflecting duality and balance. An elevated lace triangle, crafted from a former lover’s lace, connects the physical past with the emotional and spiritual. Beneath it, black and white stones invoke alchemical and Masonic dualities, representing creation and destruction’s foundational balance.
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The lower section houses three cat skulls—two black, one white—aligned in triangular quadrants. Cats, tied to independence and mystery in occult traditions, mirror my own ambivalence toward them, with the central white skull suggesting purity amid shadowy memories. Below, an inverted silver-leaf triangle holds a ring made from my hair, intertwined with hair from former lovers and cats, symbolizing unity, cycles, and the enduring bonds of relationships.
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Silver leaf reflects the viewer’s gaze, inviting self-reflection amid the esoteric symbolism. The interplay of inverted and upright triangles conveys the shifting balance of action and reflection, control and surrender.
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This work serves as a veiled self-portrait, confronting themes of love, loss, and memory. Fragile like lace yet enduring like quartz, it explores the bonds that unite us, the sacrifices we make, and the inevitability of imbalance and mortality.
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Glass reagent bottles with clear quartz, cat skulls, plaster, stone, human hair, silver leaf, and acrylic on wood construct
30 x 30 x 4 in / 74.9 x 74.9 x 10.2 cm
2022
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Something Haunting Is Brewing V — ABA Gallery - Atlanta, GA - 2022



