Hold Fast

Mussel shell, barnacles, sterling silver

This piece explores the duality of near and far. I was interested in the way place plays a part in our memories. I moved to Montana from Southeast Alaska almost exactly a year ago. I lived in Alaska my whole life and so every place, every beach and trail and patch of forest has memories associated with it. I’m used to every trip around town being a litany of memories. Here in Montana I don’t have the history for every place to hold a memory and so I often feel disconnected with where I am. I have to work much harder to ground myself here than back in Alaska. Last month I traveled back to Juneau to visit and picked up the shells to make this piece. Physically bringing relics back from Alaska to Montana feels like a way to try and bring my memories closer and working with these materials has been a way to connect the duality of near and far together.