Troubles | Belongings | Souvenirs
Troubles
“Pain creates the vessel that holds the joy.
The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.”
– Kahil Gibran
It is our pain, our woes, our troubles, that provide us the vehicle through which emotional balance is maintained. While our troubles seem endless and overwhelming, they are the cloud that holds the silver lining. We try to wish them away but they are universal, omnipresent and necessary for us to feel joy by contrast.
The Guatemalan culture addresses trouble-solving directly with an old tradition. In Guatemala, one gifts trouble dolls to a loved one who is troubled. The loved one is asked to tell their troubles to the dolls before sleeping and to place the dolls under their pillow. Magically, the dolls will whisk away their troubles before they wake.
This series of assemblages captures the trouble dolls (Troubles) in the act of managing troubles while one sleeps. The Troubles are up to all good and no good in the process. As you can see, Troubles are in every corner and behind every window as they carry their burden. It is important to note that while these pieces are fun and whimsical at first glance, a second glance reveals that they are satirical with underpinnings of social, cultural and political events. The scenes depicted often include paintings by the artist, as well as hand crafted elements made by the artist.
