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Swept is an intentional, durational, performative project in which I engage in the domestic task of sweeping and document the discarded refuse I collect in my home. In many ways these images are able to serve as a chronicle of daily life, perhaps better than other traditional means of documentation.

Archaeologists have long looked to the midden heaps of previous civilizations to learn about daily life of past cultures. I began collecting these images to document the dust piles I sweep at home where googly eyes peer through dust covered macaroni noodles and pipe cleaners whirl through piles of dirt and debris. Through this project the domestic task of sweeping has taken on greater meaning in this phase of motherhood as I recognize that this time is fleeting, and one day I will perhaps only find the occasional dropped coffee bean and shed strands of my own graying hair in my dust pan when my children have grown and moved on.

Because this work is inherently domestic, it is important to me to untangle my creative practice from traditional notions of domesticity associated with femininity and beauty. Drawing from the same needlework traditions passed down to me from my mother and grandmother I have sought to use traditionally feminine beading and embroidery to connect with my foremothers and to elevate the humble dust pile to its proper place as a thing of beauty.

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