Leaf Boats and Reflections

Can you tell us a little about the work Yvonne?

My grandma died during COVID and I knew so many people who lost someone they loved. I wanted to create a piece with the community to commemorate memories of those who died recently and remind all of us that our loved ones live on inside of us.

How does the work achieve this?

Through conversations online and email we learned about people who died and then we created leaf boats with their memories. The boats sit on reflective material that mirrors the sky and trees giving the boats the appearance of floating on water. In the middle is a sculpture of a girl’s head reclined on a pillow, eyes closed. My grandma taught me to pray; not on my knees but in my head, eyes closed, and resting. My grandma said, “ Prayer is a conversation with God so one must be comfortable and prepared to talk.”

Can more stories be added to the boats?

Yes! Over the year new memories will be sculpted and the boats will change. The sheets the boats sit on can be replaced with new boats and stories as more people share their memories with us.

For the last question can you tell us one memory you sculpted ?

Every weekend a father would bring flowers home to his daughters after their chores were complete. I just loved this story. In the pool there is a man holding flowers on a boat keeping this memory alive.