Protect

26. February 2009 by Eve Peach.

I am once again reminded of thoughts of protection this past week as life came to a stop when I focused all of my thoughts and energy into taking care of my sick daughter.  Every day my daughter was sick was another day in which I longed for the ability to take her pain away and keep her safe, happy, and healthy.

I had a dream when Hannah was only a few months old.  In this dream I was able to put her body back inside of my body in order to protect her and keep her safe from some form of exterior/outside source of danger.  This dream stuck with me and has inspired some work and ideas about this special supernatural ability.

These images are from a shared sketch book of Hannah’s and mine. Together we took turns tracing different parts of our bodies.  With me always making an effort to trace her hands and feet inside the tracings of my hands and feet.

I love these simple small works on paper, especially the quick gestural crayon marks made by Hannah when she was one year old.

Artist Barbara Yontz also helped me trace my body when I was seven and eight months pregnant.  And after the birth of my daughter I traced her body for the first eight months of her life.

This set of tracings has led to a sketch for a fabric installation juxtaposing the two tracings of our bodies.

And the tracing of Hannah’s body at one month led to a new piece still in progress.  This back-lit soft  sculpture captures the image of my daughter’s body inside an embryo like environment.   Her body is mapped by primary colored fabric in the design of a severe thunderstorm pattern found in weather reporting.  Another source that fuels my anxiety and my desire to keep Hannah safe. 

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