After completing the masks of mother and daughters, it seemed fitting to frame them together.
The orange tree root weaves them together; together but separate.
Mother and children were able to start gluing down plant material soon after the quick-dry plaster masks were removed and the petroleum jelly was cleaned off.
Sorting through all the preserved, pressed leaves, the eldest daughter (top mask) had an abundance of cottonwood. Her face area is all cottonwood leaves, while the hair area is cottonwood buds, glued in mid-burst, and small piece of kiwi vine (preserved from her grandfather’s end of life service). A small grapevine tendril and button make up her mouth. Native California poppy decorate the area between her eyebrows.
The mother’s face was done in mostly watermelon leaves, which dry black. There is also a shell from a vacation in her eye. For her mouth, there’s a grapevine tendril a fern leaf with many spores.
Tobacco was a favorite of the middle child, the second daughter (bottom). Her face is mostly tobacco, with seeded eucalyptus. She has several pieces of wheat for hair, with small piece of preserved kiwi, a momento from her grandfather’s end of life celebration.
All three are mounted together on top of roots collected from a building site, ten years prior.
