Artist Bio
Attie Copeman-Papas is a PhD student in Sociology at UC Irvine.
Artist Statement
I am a British citizen; my brother is an American citizen. When I was a teenager, my brother left London for good and started his life in New York. He moved to LA five years ago. I moved to California in 2021; this was the first time we had lived in the same country in ten years. Despite the 8000-mile distance, we have always been close. But there’s one thing we both love more than each other: cheeseburgers.
Now that we live in the same city, In-N-Out has become the de facto site of our relationship.
He turned 40 this year, and although he’s seven years older than me, I am the caretaker in our relationship. He can’t drive, despite living in LA. So, once (maybe twice) per week, I make the trek to Silverlake. We have a ritual. We go to Trader Joe’s, he gets his weekly shopping, and I take him to the In-N-Out drive through. We get our burgers, my husky whines until he gets his puppy patty, and we take some time to reflect on our lives, we argue, or we sit in silence, all the things that normal siblings do.
Well, for me it’s a ritual. For him, it’s a necessity. Working through this project, people often asked why it’s only In-N-Out. I would often respond that this is the only place I have access to my brother. “Why not in his apartment?” I’m not often allowed in there. “Why not at another establishment?” He doesn’t go to another establishment.
It occurred to me throughout these discussions that maybe this isn’t a normal sibling relationship. But it’s our relationship and it works. It’s the space where we can both be comfortable, despite our mental health struggles. It’s the space where I’m able to help him. It’s our space.