"Falling Through the Ice" is part of a body of work entitled "Out on the Ice", and is a personal response to profound loss. ”Out on the Ice" explores the other worldly state of vulnerability and isolation that can follow life's largest losses. Profound loss often implies a loss within one's support network or loss of a key player in the matrix of one's life; thus increasing the loss by simultaneously loosing the very support network a person would turn to during these particularly stressful times. This shifting of roles in family or community placement can feel like the shifting of ice beneath one's feet.
This body of work also investigates cultural perspectives on the subject of suicide. Cultural taboo, when paired with loss is a very difficult situation for those that are left behind, as the very ability to discuss and celebrate the person that was lost to suicide can be uncomfortable for those around us. In historical and cultural contrast, the Inuit at one time had a mode of accepting an initiated death by the elderly or infirm. This of course, is more complex than the words imply, but creates a tone surrounding the death that would point more to a hero's journey and less to a victim. This is a delicate subject that is not to be discussed with ease, but is resulting from a search for answers to real hardship that have come to real people. Out of deep love and loyalty, I find myself deep in this work in my own efforts to rewrite my loved one's final story and honor her most difficult decision.
