a chaos of feelings

Cut-paper collage.8" x 11"

Blob of wires from a photograph by Roger Ballen. Boy holding grenade from a photograph by Diane Arbus.

This is one of my autobiographical collages. But perhaps all of my collages are autobiographical. I'm suffering from a chaos of feelings today. My mother-in-law just died. On one hand, I'm very sad, because she was a fascinating super-competent woman who worked hard for the Green Party and other leftist & environmental causes. On the other hand, I'm relieved, because she was suffering a great deal from severe diabetes and Alzheimer's disease--a vibrant spirit inside of a brain that no longer worked. I admired her a greal deal, for many reasons. I never stopped admiring her.