melanie mociak(she/they)//

i have dealt with a lot of death throughout my life. while it has always been difficult to deal with, it has always come with support from community, which helps get you through it. people have an idea of how to support someone who is grieving. recently, my family dealt with an illness that was not so easy to deal with. that led to many people in our lives not knowing how to act or what to do. there wasn’t a script to follow. i think a lot of people felt awkward so a lot of them froze and did nothing. this felt so isolating, especially combined with the pandemic, where a lot of community was lost there as well. the experience changed many relationships. i also thought i had a script for grief, but this experience shattered my presumptions as well.


for my vessel i started with the idea that when things look strong and perfect, if you look closer there are holes in the armor. i think we make this more complicated by concealing the broken parts of ourselves. this is why i left the front intact and wanted to only alter the backside. i weaved medical supplies through holes made into the vessel to symbolize the holes this experience has ripped through my life. i was inspired by kintsugi, which is the japanese art of repairing pottery with gold. for this reason, i surrounded the holes in the vessel with gold as well as filled the medical tubing. i hope that, piece by piece, i can put my life back together in a similar fashion.