emmett ramstad
The Good Ones
2006. Mixed Media.
The Good Ones series is an intimate view of surgery. In this series, I display remnants from a close friend’s top surgery as treasured objects nested on pillows. Keeping these remains of bloodied gauze, dried scabs, surgical tape and stitches is reminiscent of parents keeping their children’s teeth; holding onto a previous time and recognizing times coming. In the installation, my embroidered hands hold these relics because the greater society and the medical industry have not held these surgeries as sacred nor recognized their life changing qualities. To me these remnants are precious and represent a kind of familial bond created in contested communities. Also within queer communities, particularly trans communities, holding onto artifacts becomes important because birth families (as opposed to chosen families) do not necessarily cherish these signs of transformation.
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2006. Mixed Media.
The Good Ones series is an intimate view of surgery. In this series, I display remnants from a close friend’s top surgery as treasured objects nested on pillows. Keeping these remains of bloodied gauze, dried scabs, surgical tape and stitches is reminiscent of parents keeping their children’s teeth; holding onto a previous time and recognizing times coming. In the installation, my embroidered hands hold these relics because the greater society and the medical industry have not held these surgeries as sacred nor recognized their life changing qualities. To me these remnants are precious and represent a kind of familial bond created in contested communities. Also within queer communities, particularly trans communities, holding onto artifacts becomes important because birth families (as opposed to chosen families) do not necessarily cherish these signs of transformation.
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