- Artist/Maker:
- Gay Block
- Bio:
- American, b. 1942
- Title:
- Mother's Rings on My Hands on Mother's Fur
- Date:
- 1994
- Medium:
- Chromogenic color print
- Dimensions:
- 20 × 24 in. (50.8 × 61 cm)
- Credit Line:
- Gift of the artist
- Accession Number:
- 1999-82
Not On View
When Mother died, the things she left behind seemed as inert as she now was. I looked for her in her things because, like them or not, now they were mine.
I wanted to photograph all her possessions, especially her furs and jeweler. To her, they represented her position in society, the way she told people who she was. To me, they represented things I had rejected, a part of her I rejected.
Then one night an image appeared in my dream. I saw her 6-carat diamond ring on a baby's penis--the German word schmuck means both penis and jewel. Suddenly I saw the connection between them both: both are symbols of power.
Some of these rings were gifts to Mother from Daddy.
I wore the diamond to my children's weddings.
-Gay Block
I wanted to photograph all her possessions, especially her furs and jeweler. To her, they represented her position in society, the way she told people who she was. To me, they represented things I had rejected, a part of her I rejected.
Then one night an image appeared in my dream. I saw her 6-carat diamond ring on a baby's penis--the German word schmuck means both penis and jewel. Suddenly I saw the connection between them both: both are symbols of power.
Some of these rings were gifts to Mother from Daddy.
I wore the diamond to my children's weddings.
-Gay Block
Information may change as a result of ongoing research.