Virginia Barratt - dna artist's tears

fowler’s vacola preserving jar no. 31



my mum had an amazing garden when I was a child.

rhubarb, lots of rhubarb.

things preserved in fowler’s jars.

my dad had cows.

jerseys.

mum made butter from the cream.

i have a garden that aspires

i get up and milk my jersey cow at 6am every morning.

dad comes with me, and I make small talk.

about cows. there is a pleasure in this.

sometimes tears fall into the shiny shiny bucket filled with whiteness.

i have a fowler’s vacola.

I am living my parent’s life.

the jar is a symbol of the preservation of a lifestyle they gifted to me.

preservation

of

self

dna sealed away.

tears emanate from a places of mystery
and rain all over the garden of my life.

this piece is dedicated to my parents.
my father’s life, my mother’s sight. my mother’s light