I am a small paragraph of text about the project. Just a title and a few words. I am a small paragraph of text about the project. Just a title and a few words. I am a small paragraph of text about the project. Just a title and a few words. I am a small paragraph of text about the project. Just a title and a few words.
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2015. Words and Commissioned photographs. Solo exhibition at 44ad, Bath.
Embrace DNR evolved after the loss of my beloved husband Mike to an aggressive form of cancer. I was numb with grief. Everyone deals with bereavement differently, of course, but as an artist I needed to map the new geography of how things had changed so devastatingly.
For many months following my husband’s death I became, in my mind’s eye, ‘The Widow Who Walks’, undertaking long, reflective rambles across the Mendip Hills near our North Somerset home. On my return I would work alone in my room for the rest of the day, music on full volume, pouring my thoughts into my diaries and creating ‘word pictures’ of the emotional, physical and spiritual journey Mike and I had shared following his diagnosis.
My walks and writings started out as a personal quest for solace, meaning and (hopefully) healing, but as the seasons passed they gradually evolved from a personal record of felt experience to a creative endeavour.
By adding commissioned photographs I eventually realised that all these elements, my walks, the passing of time, my writings, the images of anonymous hospital corridors so indelibly seared into my memory, the real time photographs taken on my smartphone could form the basis of a publicly accessible work of art created in memory of my husband.
So that is the back story to how and why Embrace DNR was created: to access and address life changing issues surrounding love, loss, healing, memory and “the things that are left unsaid” at end-of-life. The title refers to the way we embrace loved ones as their lives end, and how we embrace personal memory to sustain us as we ponder where love goes after death. The acronym DNR refers to the end of life medical instruction ‘Do Not Resuscitate’ and needs no further explanation.
Embrace DNR was born out of love. I believe it will resonate with all who view it, and hope it will help you embrace your own memories of loved ones from the past, in the present and of the future.
- Carolyn Savidge
