Laura at the Dinner Table (2013)

From 2009-2017 I took each one of my three children on two artist residencies abroad (six residencies in total) to work on collaborative projects with me with the purpose of understanding the creative process and how that process might help metabolise difficult situations and emotions. For this first residency with my daughter, we decided to work on a project that would help her resist the pull of her smartphone and allow her to discover the beauty of calm, slow, silent, patient time, and the benefits of simply sitting with herself and her boredom.

With this aim in mind, we participated together in a month-long residency at the Sanskriti Foundation in India in 2013, where we learned embroidery and darning techniques from a rafoogar, a member of a community of Indian darners. It was an extraordinary experience to work together towards a common goal, among strangers, in a place unfamiliar to us. It required us to rely on one another and communicate in ways we hadn't before. It was also extraordinary to create the conditions in which Laura could experience - without my having to explain anything - time defined by the rhythm of stitches and the pleasure of just using one's hands to free the mind and let it wander.

Working together, we assembled and repaired some damaged linens that I had taken with me to India. We began with a monogrammed central table cloth and added other fabrics around its edges to stand in for family members, creating a "family dinner." The celebratory wreath/eye is based on a drawing Laura made in her journal of a crying eye. It connects, as well, to my 2003 Laura's Belly wall piece.