Nurturing Nature
The Cronemothers’ Soliloquy is a discourse on sacrifice, both what I was taught and what I have experienced. I learned how to relinquish a child through stories I was told by my adoptive-mother about my birth mother. As a child, I made a connection between the story of the Virgin Mary sacrificing her child and my birth mother.
The knots in the plywood become mouths as if rendered mid-scream. The variation in the appearances of the mouths describes the passage of time from right to left: lightness radiates from a toothless mouth, white teeth ring a healthy mouth, a mouth gapes with ancient petrified and broken teeth.
The Cronemothers’ Soliloquy engages the negative space between the two forms and is an important narrative element in the content of the painting. The shape of the space between the two forms implies that the smaller piece could have been a part of the larger piece but they are no longer connected nor are the contours a perfect fit, so they cannot be put back together. The space between the two forms and the shadows from the edges of the floating form render a bird-like shape in light. Iconographically, a radiant white bird is the representation of the Holy Spirit in Catholic imagery and references the story of the Virgin Mary’s assumption into Heaven – the reward for the agony she suffered because of the sacrifices she made.