Themes: Biblical scripture, inheritance, family, spirituality
“A lot of my reasoning for this Embodying Ancestry exploration was about confronting my own shame [about events that lead up to her death], but once I get passed that there was so much joy. She was the epitome of not spending that much money, but making an adventure out of the simplest things. I just remember our time being filled with so much laughter. So maybe thats the butterfly, but I don’t know that much about butterflies. But when you see a butterfly, it’s a symbol of beauty. Aunty Lyn was so beautiful. You would see her and you would just want to smile. You know?”
“My aunt passed away a few years ago and one of the things I inherited from her was this bible. There are two layers to this: yes its a Holy Bible and on the cover it says, “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.” The words are not the symbolism – but the butterfly, my aunt always loved butterflies. I remember her every time I see a butterfly. I can’t wear her, smell her, but sometimes I really do feel her spirit, which I feel is embodied in the bible aspect of this object.”
“I search for her sometimes. Because I kid you not, there are times when I feel like she’s with me. And I don’t know how to make sense of that. Before [my aunt] died I had a dream that she had said that she’s leaving. I didn’t know how to make sense of that. And then she passes. And then in my senior year of college I was thinking about her and I was laying down in my room and I felt something like the [arms of an embrace] wrapping around me. I’d like to believe that was her, but I don’t really know.”
“I wrote a poem about my aunt not dying, but sleeping — going to sleep. The Bible have a spiritual significance to be about death. What is death? What does it mean to die? And what does it mean that I think she just went to sleep. And that she highlighted this passage. Sometimes I think of it as a clue.”
“I wrote a poem about my aunt not dying, but sleeping — going to sleep. The Bible have a spiritual significance to be about death. What is death? What does it mean to die? And what does it mean that I think she just went to sleep. And that she highlighted this passage. Sometimes I think of it as a clue.”
“If I could see Aunty Lyn again, I think I would just hug her. I’d just hug her. And I’d tell her, ‘I love you’.”
More Participants
Lontia | Marylin | Amy | Jasmine | Christie | Geraldine | Patricia | Laura | Angela & Diana | Tsedaye | Eddie | Lola | Briana | Simone | SINI | Italy | Ekua | Anika | Reem | Bobo | Kei | Macy | Sarah | DaMonique | Nandi | Anise | Yadira
Nadia Naomi Mbonde 