covering it up with a pretty fabric doesn’t always help

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aileen imperatrice

self portraits

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covering it up with a pretty fabric doesn’t always help

24” x 30” with a live installation. I found this chair at a yard sale. When I was doing research for this collection, I wanted a lot of images of chairs to work with, so I went to yard sales and took photographs of a wide variety. This chair is in disrepair, where the seat cushion would be, is missing, and exposed is the supporting fabric weave and some remaining cushion cotton stuffing, but there is no pretty covering left. The top cushion is still in place, faded fabric with buttons, with a layer of dust and wear to it. The chair itself is obviously old and beaten. But for the most part, it’s still all together, and I felt compelled by it. I took a few photos when I first came upon it, then I walked off and did some other things, and then, I came back and bought it, $5. I wanted to include it in the show because it reminded me how we try to continue to be what we think we are and it doesn’t always work, so sometimes we think covering up our problems with that “pretty fabric” will help. This is my representation of how it doesn’t. Sometimes we can put up a pretty facade and go through life and other people think everything is great, but there are those around us who know when we are really hurting and when there’s something on our mind. On this chair I’ve put a bright red fabric, garishly different from what the chair previously had and symbolizing those things that we may try to use to hide or shield us from those events that are not pretty. But you can see it’s just a cover up.

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