I come from a long line of “strong women.”  My mother was a tomboy, and followed her father into academia, getting a PhD in the 1940’s.  Yet, when we children came, she gave her entire focus to raising us.  I longed for deep conversations about meaning and faith, which was not my mother’s way.  What she gave was practical---she made us clothing.  I see them now as protective garments, designed not to keep us safe at home, but to equip us to go out boldly into the world.  Ancestors Walking is inspired by these memories of garments my mother made for me, as well as the wide range of images in scripture of the symbolic language of garments—used for mourning, for celebration (as for marriage) and to signal special status (as in a priest’s robes). This work incorporates fabric, thread, and Joomchi.