Unity-Separation, plywood, laquer, 23-carat gold, and graphite. This tryptych (two boxes; four pieces) holds a memory of my parent’s marriage.
This work is part of the Trousseau featured in TerMinAL mA. It features the double-wedding ring piecework motif from an antique quilt my father purchased for my mother before they married. A handwritten inscription runs along the lip where two halves of one box lock together.
Each new paragraph in the following transcript represents a new edge of the box.
Transcription from left box (outside lip edge):
"UNITY AND SEPARATION" RELIQUARY BOXES WERE CREATED FROM THE PINK AND WHITE DOUBLE WEDDING RING QUILT MY DAD BOUGHT FOR MY MOM IN 1987 AS A BIRTHDAY PRESENT BEFORE THEY GOT MARRIED LATER THAT YEAR. DAD WAS VISITING HER IN CHICAGO FROM DENVER AND THEY WENT TO AN ANTIQUE STORE, WHERE SHE SAW AND ADMIRED THE QUILT. BUT IT WAS $300 -TOO EXPENSIVE TO JUSTIFY... DAD BOUGHT THE QUILT FOR HER IN SECRET AND LEFT IT WITH HER PARENTS AS A SURPRISE FOR HER UPCOMING 28TH BIRTHDAY (BORN AUG 1, 1959). WITH IT, HE LEFT A NOTE COMMENDING HER FOR ALL HER DILIGENCE IN STUDYING FOR THE BAR EXAM, WHICH SHE WAS ABOUT TO TAKE. 'CONGRATULATIONS: I HOPE YOU PASSED. I KNOW YOU DID.' (AND YES, SHE DID!) "I FELT VERY LOVED AND UNDERSTOOD. SHE HAS KEPT IT ALL THESE YEARS.
Transcription from right box (inside lip edge):
MY MOTHER, KAREN THERESE ELFTMANN, MARRIED MY FATHER, JAMES LOUIS WELDEN, ON SEPTEMBER 5, 1987, IN THE CHRUCH HER PARENTS SENT HER TO FOR LATIN MASS ON SUNDAYS THROUGHOUT HER YOUTH. SHE AND HER BROTHER, JOHN MICHAEL, WOULD WALK THE FIVE BLOCKS
FROM HER HOME AT 625 NORTH 40TH STREET IN STONE PARK TO SAINT CHARLES BORROMEO CHRUCH IN CHICAGO.
MOM AND DAD DANCED TO BARBARA STREISAND'S "WHAT ARE YOU DOING FOR THE REST OF YOUR LIFE," THE ONLY SONG SHE WAS PERMITTED TO PICK AT THE WEDDING HELD MOSTLY FOR HER PARENTS' FRIENDS. SHE HADN'T EATEN IN DAYS, DUE TO ANXIETY FROM TOXIC FAMILY STRESS DYNAMICS, AND SHE
SPENT THE RECEPTION PHYSICALLY ILL WITH HER "VERY CONSIDERATE" GROOM AT HER SIDE.
Transcription from interior corner:
UNITY
SEPARATION
Transcription from interior box floor:
THEIR DIVORCE WAS FINALIZED JANUARY 3, 2005. BUT DAD WOULD DRIVE AN HOUR TO A NEW RESTAURANT ONCE A WEEK SO WE COULD ALL EAT DINNER AS A FAMILY. AND MOM WOULD COME OVER TO DAD'S TO CUT HIS HAIR. TO THIS DAY HE SITLL ASSEMBLES AND FILES HER TAX RETURNS.
