meredith emery

(2021) edition of 1; 5” x 8”, found materials, handmade denim paper, etching plate, Rives Lightweight paper, waxed thread

from the Well is a book of collage portraits arranged from materials found in my late Aunt Pat’s home in Madison County, Georgia. Of a few things I’m certain about Patsy: she had a fiery quip to dish in every conversation, she could eat a whole coconut cream cake by herself, her favorite movie was Dirty Dancing, and she loved her stuff. Her home was (and still is), overflowing with the collections of her life: yard sale bargains, kitchenware, baby clothes, games, pictures, jewelry, sewing accessories, romance novels; an infinite repository of the miscellaneous.

Pat fiercely believed all of the nooks and crannies of her inventory to be intentional, purposeful additions to her home. As the family has continued to sort through her household possessions since her passing several years ago, I have collected various items and assembled them into the collages within this book. In doing so, I consider the psychological dimensions of longing, compulsion, love, and security that Pat manifested via her belongings.