ANCESTOR BOX

Mixed Media

This box was created at a Hospice training. We were preparing to staff a day-long "Good Grief" camp for bereaved children. As volunteers, we were being led through one of the experiences planned for the children, the ANCESTOR BOX. We were given simple materials - magazines to snip from, cloth scraps, yarn, buttons. It was less than an hour by the clock, and yet, generations by memory.As I thought of my grandmothers, and their grandmothers,I braided our hair together, connecting continents, hearts, lifetimes.I once again sorted buttons Auntie Dora had kept in her tin...I could feel the rag rug that Grandma Julia had made, see the colorful clothes she wore...and I planted violets I had seen my mother paint. Later at home, I recounted my own life - embellishing the box joining my ancestors.

Lili Micaela