Cat’s Cradle

Submitted by Rebecca Blevins

I made this piece thinking about the idea of personal vulnerability.

The figure in this piece is in a very self-protective, closed-off stance, hands to chest, feet turned inward.  The red thread to me represents tension.  It is an external representation of personal fear, that wraps up its victim to the point of strangulation.

In the trunk, unseen in the photograph, are old rusted saws, scissors, and knives.  These represent tools we develop to keep others out.  These tools might look like anything from having standards of perfection or lists of ideals placed on ourselves and others.  Different defenses might include keeping friendships and relationships at a surface level, an obsession with work, or play.  Anything that keeps us too busy to slow down and let others in. 

We all have these tools, we've carefully crafted and disguised them, and with them have developed effective ways of keeping others out, and our true self safe and unknown.

On the floor lies half of an anatomical heart and a few scattered red feathers.  Just between the girl's hands dangles the silhouette of a bird in flight. This represents the possibility of change and freedom at the end of self-defense, as one enters into the openness of being completely known, and fully real