These works were inspired by my relationship with my mother. My mother had brain cancer for much of my life, and it worsened a few years ago. I witnessed her lose mobility of her muscles, claiming her ability to walk, to stand, to speak, and to move her hands.

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As we were both artists, there were few things as devastating as losing the ability to create. So, she and I figured out new ways to create things together. With the help of the staff art therapist,  I made work with her, and other residents at the nursing home she lived at, resulting in an installation of paper airplanes.

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Paper airplanes, intrinsically nostalgic and playful, allowed for a moment of levity and joy amidst loss and grief. Clustered like a flock of birds, they appear ephemeral, in the motion of deciding their next movement. 

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As I sought to bring my mother peace, I created these flight paths and handbooks for her as a visual love letter to wherever her path took her next.