BEHIND THE SCENES - CAPTURED/HEAR + REMEMBER
L to R: “Captured,” “Hear and Remember,” and “Protected” by Katie Berman, 2020.
Reclaimed wool and cotton yarns, copper tubing.
The other two portions of my three-part “relationship cycle” are finally complete! Here we have “Captured” and “Hear and Remember.” If you missed the intro to this series and the thoughts behind the inspiration for this group of works, you can catch up on it here.
Though all pieces are separate entities and have individual personalities, I love hanging them next to each other in a unified group. The movement from chaos to calm is expressed more clearly.
“Captured” represents the selfish part of the relationship cycle that I talked about previously. I get buried in my mind and my own selfish ambition. It gets a little crazy! Others become hard to see.
“Hear and Remember” is the part of the cycle that represents a dual action-- both God’s hearing and remembering and my own.
In the Exodus story, it describes God as one who heard the cry of the people in captivity and remembered their promise to protect and rescue those enslaved. I believe that happens in my life as well. At the same time that God is hearing and remembering me when I cry out, I too feel that I hear and remember. I listen to stories by those around me sharing the goodness of God and light expressed in their lives and I remember all of the times of healing that came before for me.
“Hear and Remember” features a collection of small textile sculptures in copper tubing. I see them as a kind of remembrance stone or touchstone of sorts. These little sculptures are a physical representation of lessons learned, paradigm shifts, what have you.
What I find so fascinating is that over the course of human history and across almost all religious groups and cultures, humans have used altars or some type of physical monument to serve as a way to remember a situation or a great shift in life. When the gods showed favor on you or you were a witness to greatness, you built an altar or touchstone to help you not forget the things that you saw.
I’ve been working through some big changes in my own life as of late and I’ve found myself making these little sculptures as reminders of the things I’ve been learning. The light and life I’ve been witness to. The goodness I’ve been shown.
I never want to forget. I never want to lose sight of the things I’ve been learning.
So though this body of work is coming to a close, it’s rolling over into another fun installation. I’ve been making a separate group of textile sculptures that I’m calling “Memory.” In each sculpture, I’ve hidden a little note to myself in the tubing that describes the paradigm shift or situation that has brought change and goodness in my life. When I need to remember, I can retrieve the notes and remind myself of the goodness and light and grace and joy and love that I’ve experienced and know that I will experience once again.
“Memory” by Katie Berman, 2020
Reclaimed cotton yarns, copper tubing, suede remnants.
May we never forget the light that we’ve been witness to. Despite all the chaos and anger and sadness and injustice, may we choose joy and know that our joy and kindness and grace has the power to heal the world around us. It will heal the world around us.
- KB
