Rebecca Siemering
Midas Touch, 2016
found lottery tickets, founds powerball tickets, hand tuftedm dental floss, cotton, gold lame, beads 35" x 14" x 3"
Fromt he Lottery Project
Rebecca Siemering
Blankets, 2019
silver gelatin print 16" x 20"
This is one of my favorite portraits of myself and Asha, taken by my husband @click.erik. It hangs In our living room and I look at it every day. It is two years old, before our current stay at home sheltering. It was an unintended collaboration, and as a parent and an artist, I feel that my current art practice has been deepened by having a child. The inadvertent turns of phrase while she learned language skills, her observations at every age; all have had an impact. On this day, my husband brought home his Graflex and set it up in the yard in late afternoon. He wanted to make some portraits after taking pictures of the changing garden. You can just see the raspberries starting to bloom in the back. My kiddo would not have it; she ran around the yard screaming, no no no…Erik kept begging her to sit for “just a minute.” I thought about how to salvage the situation. My daughter had the first inklings of anxiety issues, and I had to be strong, but bend like a reed to get her back on track in lots of situations. I said, “Ok. Let’s make a deal. You can hide, I will stand with you, too.” I got some blankets and we stood together strong. You can just see the outline of her defiant face, her hand touching mine through the blanket. I keep looking at this portrait, and it changes with every bit of news and life crashing in, but always- there is a Mom and a child sheltering together. That stays the same. I think we all want a security blanket at the moment, if at least, a mental one. Stay safe everyone. Let’s stand together in spirit.
