The COVID lockdown time has lead me to think about the importance of family and loved ones. Loved ones who we cannot see in person, cannot touch, but whom we very much hold in our hearts.

Stay Home.
My parents died in 2010 and 2015 respectively. In 2015 we eight children gathered together in the family home in Berkley, Michigan. We had lived in that house all of our young lives. Our childhood memories were in that place, the building, the objects … us. In a circle we sat in silence together, in grief and love … home.

Stay Safe.
We gathered mementos to keep us safe and our memories alive.
One sister kept nothing. Others held on to furniture, jewellery, fishing poles, a weighing scale, the button box. Because I live in Canterbury, nearly 4000 miles away from Berkley, the objects I could carry were limited. I couldn’t attach a trailer to the plane. I couldn’t bring all of those years home.

Save Lives.
I am in the process of returning the objects. I have no children. Other family members do. They may be interested in our shared past. They may not. My loved ones have touched these mementos. I hold them again, adding my touch before I pass them on to be held by others. I am drawing the objects for safe keeping, to save something of our lives.

It is taking me longer than expected to bring myself to make these drawings and to pass the objects out of isolation and on to the future…