Don't write nothing at all
They just stand back and let it all be
And in the quick of the night
They reach for their moment
And try to make an honest stand
But they wind up wounded
Not even dead
Tonight in Jungleland"
- Bruce Springsteen
What does Bruce Springsteen have to do with my work?
Bruce represents the American journey.
My ancestral roots stem from Bohemia and Italy. My grandparents on both sides came to the United States to find and to live the American dream. There was a lot of unrest in those familial roots. Impoverishment, drunken brawls, tough times, premature deaths, while above it all, persistence. Persistence in the belief of the American dream.
I am their progeny.
I am living the American dream.
This legacy affords me the freedom to contemplate ideas.
I contemplate ideas of language, of identity and place, and of the processes involved in art making.
I contemplate words and the effect of a word on one's visual memory.
The underpinning of my work is the act of collecting and the processes of amassing the collected items and recontextualizing them into art forms.
Welcome to the journey with me.
.Michelle Sanzi Kermes