Carol K. Brown

Controlling the aesthetics of her environment was a very high priority in my Mother’s life. Describing her, someone once noted that, “If she had a dog, she would have painted it.”

In the months while my Mother was dying, she became visibly upset at the loss of that control, as well as control of all other aspects of her life. When hospice nurses arrived with oxygen tanks, a wheelchair, breathing devices, etc., she was horrified by the intrusion and insisted they be removed from her field of vision.

As this was happening, I had been making paintings of homeless people. Merging manipulated photographs of these paintings with photographs of various rooms in my Mother’s house created images that seemed to epitomize what she was going through. I’m not sure what would have upset her more, the idea of dying, or the thought of these people actually being in her house. Now the barbarians aren’t just at the gate, they are in the living room.

The images also bring to mind the sharp economic contrasts I saw growing up in New Orleans, where rampant poverty existed in the midst of architectural beauty. They seem particularly relevant today, in times of financial uncertainty.

I have since expanded this project to include other rooms in other homes.

October 06, 2008
This exhibit will continue through
November 27, 2008

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Stephen P. Clark Center
111 NW 1st Street Suite 625
Miami, Fl  33128