I first saw a body of Merill Comeau’s work almost ten years ago, in an installation of collaged found fabrics exploring loss, repair, and rebirth.  The works were personal and carefully constructed, touching on wide themes of family, memory, and place.  One piece in particular spoke to me, Women’s Work is Never Done, an installation of scraps of dyed black fabric, each illustrating a different sewing technique.  At the time the work consisted of only about a dozen pieces, but it grew into a fully formed work—a perfect illustration of how we reconstruct lost histories piece by piece.  When it was exhibited again seven years later it was an installation of 93 pieces, including stitches and patterns arranged around a completed garment at the center.  This striking work of fiber art references the history of women’s labor, domesticity, and the importance and intricacies of handwork—it embodies what has always drawn me to Merill’s work.  She boldly tells untold histories while bending the boundaries of contemporary craft. 

 

Family of Origin is a complex installation consisting of layers of handwork, materials, and stories, made up of three overarching pieces—a wall hanging, floor cloth, and sculptural elements called the Foundational Garments.  Merill notes how “disordered and reordered narratives” appear in her works, which is often how we remember and tell family stories.  Family of Origin investigates how we identify who we are, where we are from, and who we choose for our community.  Foundational Garments in particular weaves a narrative of a complex mother-daughter relationship, explores traditional gendered roles, and celebrates how we subvert narrowly constructed societal limitations.

 

Merill Comeau salvages garments, repurposes fabrics, and tells stories that speak to memories of place, seeking belonging, and preserving what might otherwise be lost.  I recently had to clean out a long neglected space, and was faced with items I had been holding on to for decades.  As I resolved to finally dispose of them, I thought about why I had kept them for so long.  When an object holds a memory it is accompanied by the weight of returning to those histories, and we often find that we are not ready for those mental journeys.  But, when the object can be transformed into something that furthers the story while coming to terms with the past, as Merill’s work does, we are reminded of the powerful therapeutic nature of storytelling through objects.   

 

Jessica Roscio, Ph.D.

Director and Curator

Danforth Art Museum at Framingham State University