Meg and her siblings are the last descendants of two long family lines. Their childhood home, where Meg now lives, has become the final resting place for belongings left behind and passed along by several generations on both parental sides. Meg finds herself de facto custodian of these ephemeral traces of once-full lives whose memories will soon be washed away like so many fallen leaves from a dead family tree. With Things We Meant to Do, Meg uses her coincidental inheritance to re-tell her ancestors’ life stories so they won't disappear down the drain.
By design, the installations tell personal stories about a quirky cast of characters who lived during the 19th & 20th centuries, mostly in Pennsylvania and West Virginia.
By implication, they illustrate cultural & socio-economic themes & raise philosophical questions related to the overarching concept of ancestry & legacy, a metaphor for the universal human condition.
The first installation, shown at the McCandless Heritage Center Nov. 15 through Dec. 8, 2019 introduced the ancestral cast of characters & their ephemeral legacies.
Play On, at McCandless Heritage Center Mar. 6 - Nov. 10, 2020, told stories both personal and techno-cultural with artifacts of a father’s priceless legacy of music "... the food of love."