Jun 25th 2021

Monica J. Brown: Roots, Branches: Ancestor(s) Stones

@ ARC Gallery

1463 W. Chicago Ave, Chicago, IL 60642

Opening Friday, June 25th, from 5PM - 8PM

On view through Saturday, August 14th

Roots, Branches: Ancestor(s) Stones: Opening Reception Fri.  June 25, 5-8pm / Virtual Opening Sat.  June 26, 4pm

This journey has its beginnings in a seed that was planted in a seed, that was planted ages ago, across the oceans of time and space, in the land that birthed the first mother. When her firstborn daughter came of age, her mother asked her to remember. “Remember what?” her daughter asked. “Remember this.”

Still not comprehending, though understanding the depth of what she was being asked to do, those words resounded in her spirit, and so, almost without knowing why she did it, she passed this message on to her own daughter: “Remember.” And so, it was passed down through generations, across continents, over oceans, through rivers, atop mountains, written on clouds, intertwined in tree branches, and encoded in dreams when those memories had been forgotten. And so… I heard my grandmothers speak in a whisper, softly, yet firmly: “Remember.”

Ancestor(s) Stones are intuition mining tools. They represent ancient wisdom, antiquity. They are the knowing inherent in having bourn witness to the ages. They align with the string of memory that lives in DNA, passed down through generations. They represent grounding, leverage, or steps to take. The stones have taken many shapes.

Sticks are fuel for flame. They feed the fire. Inspire it to burn. They are motivation for the fire to continue. They are place markers. They are divination tools used in the location of underground water. They are broken branches: once connected to the tree.

I am the branch, extending back, resting on the bough of my mothers. I am the daughter of Elizabeth, Flora, Grace, Ora, Parthena, Zilpha, YOMHN… and her mother, and her mother, and her mother…

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