Crumbs Under My Pillow
wallpaper, adhesive, Tyvek, cast paper, wood
144” x 384” x 120” Installation view at SECCA in 12x12: 12 Artists from the 12th State
Performance by Megan Hodel Feb 2, 2018 (video coming soon)
2018
Lost in my thoughts and blinded by wishes I suffer in silence and wait for my life to begin.
On the heels of my own wedding I recall a lifetime of messaging that women are more valuable as brides. Many of the objects in this installation invite domestic nostalgia: jello molds, gramophone horns, antique furniture pieces, bits of lighting fixtures make up the contents on the low table. "Crumbs Under My Pillow" references a ritual established in the 17th century where single women attending a wedding each take home a piece of the cake to place under their pillow in order to dream about their future husbands.
A figure sits atop the high chair out of reach from the contents on the table and unable to engage with passersby. Her garment blends into the background and her face is shrouded by every flower removed from her dress, making her only visible when she moves. Intermittently she plucks pedals from her bouquet dropping them to the floor below in a passive ceremony of forward looking. She suffers in silence.
Crumbs Under My Pillow
hand cut vintage wallpaper, Tyvek, glue, vinyl flooring
10'x10'x10' installation view at the Currier Museum of Art in Deep Cuts: Contemporary Paper Cutting
2017
Photo Credits: Stewart Clements and The Currier Museum of Art (noted on images)
Crumbs Under My Pillow is an installation created for the exhibition Deep Cuts that continues my exploration of domesticity and the American Dream through dissection and separation of pattern from found decorative material. The wall panels are made of several different wallpapers collaged together, leaving the voids from all the removed pattern, which is sorted by color and applied to coat cast paper objects such as jello molds and lighting fixtures. The paper objects are arranged in a teetering pile on the pedestal based on studied images of fountains and artisanal cakes covered in fondant. "Crumbs Under My Pillow" refers to a ritual dating back to the 17th century where unmarried women would put a piece of wedding cake under their pillow to dream of their future husband.