Remembrance
Remembrance by Denise ((bonaimo)) Sarram
Assemblage 2020 14" x 14"
board game substrate, ancestor photo, paperclay, watch gears, wooden window frame, glass drawer pull, mixed media, transparency, tiny lights, vellum scenery
This one is difficult to convey in photos, it unfolds to open and lights up-so I suggest you scroll down to the short video for a better look as well.
This assemblage is a homage to my twin Great Uncles Mauricio and Bernardo. This photo is the only picture I have. It is actually just a photo of one boy which I duplicated and flipped and Photoshop. Which brother it is, I am not sure. When they were 7 years old they both became ill and died from the Influenza Epidemic of 1918 ("Spanish Flu").
My Grandmother (Grandma Kitty) never spoke of her younger brothers and what little information I have is from stories told by my mother.
The front cover of this assemblage was particularly fun to make. The entire artwork is made from a repurposed "Scene It" board game. It is a circle that has two half circles that unfold. It gave me a lot of room to play. The wings were made by pressing soft paperclay into a silicone mold and letting them dry to a papier-mâché like material. I obsessed over adding the tiny gears from old watches to the wings. Collaged paper, texture paste, stencils, distress inks and paint add layers of interest to the background.
When you open it up, the inside features the twin brothers sitting on a stage with red curtains. Flick a switch behind the board and tiny lights illuminate a vellum scene of a house.
