these texts are an archive of my life in the San Francisco Bay Area from march 2007 - march 2015. it stands as a record of close to a decade of my life, charting the struggles i faced as an artist, daughter, and lover. messy and chaotic at times, eloquent and poetic at others, these texts are an index i am proud of. it was here in this electric box that i learned how to be honest about my experiences and the person i needed to become. it was here that i first learned the truism that words make the world and how to trust such a beautiful, rife, hard fact.

thank you for meeting me here in such tall grass.


my artist website is here.

Mar 5, 2010

something i read yesterday...

"...The description itself does not reproduce the object, it rather helps us to restage and restate the effort to remember what is lost. The description reminds us how loss acquires meaning and generates recovery- not only of and for the object, but for the one who remembers."

from Unmarked by Peggy Phalen, page 147



All these paintings and drawings are descriptions. And just as the above statement asserts, my "description" of, my portrait of Sylvia Likens will not bring her back.

But the act of drawing her, the act of describing her, even partially, is a way to help me remember her even though I didn't know her. It helps me remember what happened. This act of remembering, this seemingly simple act of drawing her likeness of a sheet of paper, is a gesture toward recovery... not only hers, but mine,

ours.

4 comments:

Elisabeth said...

A beautiful statement on the nature of memory, Angela. Thank you.

angela simione said...

memory can sometimes be a horrible thing. i'm glad to know that there is a purpose behind the act of remembering... at least sometimes: that something lost can be recovered.

Radish King said...

In your remembering of Sylvia, and Elsie, and JonBenet, you hold the torch aloft for all the lost children including my sister. It's a heavy torch but your holding it lets light in everywhere light mad light filling up all that dark.
love,
Rebecca

angela simione said...

thank you so much, rebecca. and i don't think i've ever told you but i've always thought of your sister in this lineage too. that poem for her in "Radish King" and when i read it such a huge wind of grief fell across the page and all i could do was sigh. thank you, thank you. i will do my best to hold it high. <3