MOTHER
Completed in 2021 and installed through 2022
Collection of 18 neon letters, 4’ x 4’ each, 72’ wide (total)
yellow, orange, and pink neon
Mother consists of eighteen individual 4’ x 4’ neon letters that together make a three word poem. This large neon light installation seeks to bring communities together and add to the global narratives that relate to climate change and eco-feminism.
For this poem, ‘Mother’ is a double entendre referring both to “Mother Earth” and maternal figures. The poem’s full text: OTHER MOTHER ANOTHER can be read as “other mother” or “another other.” Intentionally minimalist, the structure recalls concrete poetry (like the work of Gertrude Stein) and Écriture féminine (or early women’s writing).
Mother was commissioned by Lawndale Arts for the Houston Botanic Gardens as a site-specific neon installation that spans the garden’s 400 foot concrete corridor.