Sins of the Father
Spring 2006
33cm x 27cm x 1cm

Description
Small photograph of father holding young child in his arms standing in the shallow water at the edge of the sea. Mounted on collage of fabric and text fragments, overlaid with transparent fabric layer with scribbled writing, under glass in a wooden frame. A ribbon, hooks and buttons stretch over the frame. The illegible pencil scribbling continues on the frame.

Themes, Comments and Storylines
The absence and distance of the father, small, insignificant, remote, not a physical absence, but a lack of willingness to engage, take up the expected role, offer support, show interest. A recurring experience in my extended family history of strong women and weak men. The sins of the fathers, not in what they did, but in their passivity, their withdrawal from conflict and confrontation, giving up influence, making a virtue out of inactivity, refusal to speak up and act. The sense of abandonment experienced by their children, maybe also by their women whose authoritarian rule they silently supported.