From the Curator’s Perspective: …in sickness and in health…

This diptych portrays the life we dream of with the one that we are ill-prepared for. Most people imagine their married lives to be picture perfect and would like to think that they are fully prepared to be with their partner in sickness and in health. However, no one is ever quite prepared for the significance those words carry. After five months of marriage, the artist’s father was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. Eleven years after they exchanged their vows, he was declared disabled by the Social Security Administration and had to quit his job. The artist’s mother has provided for their family of four and continues to struggle “with depression and anxiety, and the stress of caring of her dad.” The artist shares this intimate moment of her father being spoon-fed coconut oil by her mother to improve his dementia.

-Kendall Temotio

For more information about this work, visit the artist’s submission. Visit this blogpost to learn how A Life, Still was curated by twelve college students in collaboration with the North Carolina Museum of Art.

About this Curator

Kendall Temotio is a BFA candidate in Metal design at East Carolina University from a small town in New Hampshire. She finds inspiration in the unique form and texture of found objects by incorporating them or their essence with technical aspects of her design and medium. She also finds value in the initial sketches and process as an integral part of her display and work as a whole.