I Only See The Gaps II
Typewritten sewing instructions from c. 1930, with all letters cut out by hand.

I Only See the Gaps II continues the work begun in I Only See the Gaps I.

Because my mother moved so often throughout her life, it was her belongings, rather than the places she lived, that came to feel like home. That is why she rarely threw anything away.

Among the things she left behind, I even found my grandmother’s school notebooks containing sewing instructions. I, on the other hand, had always found it relatively easy to let go of material possessions until, after my mother’s death, I inherited not only her belongings, but also her emotional attachment to them.

There is, however, one important difference between us: where my mother saw her mother in my grandmother’s belongings, I see two dead mothers.

With that thought in mind, I began cutting every M and A out of the inheritance, until all the mama’s disappear, leaving only the gaps behind.

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