(UN)Known Origin

My research and artworks utilize traditional hand done and modern digital printmaking techniques. Some processes inherently convey a sense of being handmade, such as wood cut relief printing and intaglio printing; these techniques rely strongly on the hand of the artist, directly transferring handmade marks to the matrix, and then to the print. Other processes, like screen printing, are further removed from the hand of the artist, where I have employed the machine; a computer, a laser cutter, or a Xerox copier. I have created within these works a juxtaposition of charming and personable marks, with more detached, indifferent digital marks. The reconciliation of the dichotomy between man and machine, and between traditional and revolutionary processes is thus encapsulated in the work. This inclusivity of diverse media within my printmaking practice challenges the viewer to wonder how the work was created. A sense of the unknown is ever-present. In a direct parallel to the choice of medium, the conceptual framework of the work likewise seeks a reconciliation of sorts, between the personal and the anonymous. The inspiration for this body of work was extracted out of a single name: Ruth Drescher, my newly discovered maternal grandmother. My mother was adopted at birth and recently stumbled upon a relationship with her birth mom's family. The subject matter for the prints was gathered from freshly uncovered genealogical histories; old polaroid photographs, birth certificates, immigration papers, hand written letters, and newly forged familial relationships. In addition to these personal artifacts, I have scoured the internet, the library, and census data to gain a better understanding of the visual culture of my ancestors. By pulling inspiration from family photos of people I never knew, my work forces a unification of the past and the present. It will dive into ancestral and historical roots, exploring motifs, patterns and symbolism from Ruth Drescher's heritage to influence a body of work which is a stream-of-consciousness digestion of this life-altering information, and the research which ties it all together. I decided to visualize and make art about this experience because art is my way of digesting concepts and facts about the world around me. By delving deep into my family's history, I have connected on a deeper level with my ancestors, and have become more comfortable in my own skin. I hope that by viewing this work, others will be inspired to strengthen their family bonds, and help them feel more connected in an increasingly impersonal world.

(UN)KNOWN ORIGIN by Dane Goodwin A Senior Honors Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of The University of Utah In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Honors Degree in Bachelor Fine Arts In College of Fine Arts Department of Art and Art History Printmaking Approved ______________________________ Justin Diggle Thesis Faculty Supervisor _____________________________ Paul Stout Department Head, Department of Fine Art _______________________________ Wendy Wischer Honors Faculty Advisor _____________________________ Sylvia D. Torti, PhD Dean, Honors College ARTIST STATEMENT My research and artworks utilize traditional hand done and modern digital printmaking techniques. Some processes inherently convey a sense of being handmade, such as wood cut relief printing and intaglio printing; these techniques rely strongly on the hand of the artist, directly transferring handmade marks to the matrix, and then to the print. Other processes, like screen printing, are further removed from the hand of the artist, where I have employed the machine; a computer, a laser cutter, or a Xerox copier. I have created within these works a juxtaposition of charming and personable marks, with more detached, indifferent digital marks. The reconciliation of the dichotomy between man and machine, and between traditional and revolutionary processes is thus encapsulated in the work. This inclusivity of diverse media within my printmaking practice challenges the viewer to wonder how the work was created. A sense of the unknown is ever-present. In a direct parallel to the choice of medium, the conceptual framework of the work likewise seeks a reconciliation of sorts, between the personal and the anonymous. The inspiration for this body of work was extracted out of a single name: Ruth Drescher, my newly discovered maternal grandmother. My mother was adopted at birth and recently stumbled upon a relationship with her birth mom’s family. The subject matter for the prints was gathered from freshly uncovered genealogical histories; old polaroid photographs, birth certificates, immigration papers, hand written letters, and newly forged familial relationships. In addition to these personal artifacts, I have scoured the internet, the library, and census data to gain a better understanding of the visual culture of my ancestors. By pulling inspiration from family photos of people I never knew, my work forces a unification ii 2 of the past and the present. It will dive into ancestral and historical roots, exploring motifs, patterns and symbolism from Ruth Drescher’s heritage to influence a body of work which is a stream-of-consciousness digestion of this life-altering information, and the research which ties it all together. I decided to visualize and make art about this experience because art is my way of digesting concepts and facts about the world around me. By delving deep into my family’s history, I have connected on a deeper level with my ancestors, and have become more comfortable in my own skin. I hope that by viewing this work, others will be inspired to strengthen their family bonds, and help them feel more connected in an increasingly impersonal world. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ARTIST STATEMENT ii THE DNA DISCOVERY 1 CONCEPTUAL CONTEMPLATION 6 AN ICONOGRAPHIC PILGRIMAGE 9 (UN)KNOWN ORIGIN: THE SERIES 14 REFERENCES 42 iv 1 THE DNA DISCOVERY I inherited a lot of traits from my parents. My mother’s thick, curly hair, her tender heart and her anxiety; my father’s knack for careful planning and his love for rock and roll — an affinity he will now deny at all costs. Even with these built-in genetics, there were always so many questions that we never had answers for. Until now. My mother, Wendy Sue Goodwin, was adopted at birth. She was raised in Simi Valley California in humble circumstances with three siblings, all of whom were also adopted, and none of whom she had much in common with. Her father, Curtis, was a mechanic and a gymnast. He was extremely free spirited; always sporting a bushy mustache and quirkily patterned suspenders. Her mother Marilyn was stern and held seemingly unreachable expectations for her children. Curtis and Marilyn have both passed away, leaving Wendy and her siblings with only each other as family. Yet, my mom never thought much of who her real parents were. All she had was a name: Ruth Drescher. In November 2016, my mother, who is frugal and refuses to treat herself to many gifts, stumbled across a Black Friday deal for a DNA test. She ordered it on a whim, hoping in the back of her mind that she could gain some insight into her medical history. None of us really expected to receive the information that came from this so-called whim. The package arrived within a week, and she followed the protocol; she swabbed her cheek and put it in the test tube, sealed it up tight, and sent it on its way. After weeks of waiting, she finally heard back on her results. They were pretty unremarkable. She was of Iberian 2 ancestry, which accounted for our naturally olive skin. The results also tied our family to central and eastern Europe. Not hard to imagine with a name like Drescher. A week later, she received a notification. “We think we may have found your first cousin,” it said. “Marion Drescher.” Wendy was baffled. She certainly didn’t anticipate this type of connection, and especially not this quickly. She reached out to her alleged cousin via email. She introduced herself, mentioned that she hoped she had the right person, and then tapped into the only information she had: her mother’s name, “…I’m Ruth Drescher’s daughter.” When the reply came from Marion, she confirmed that Ruth was her aunt, and that her father was Ruth’s brother. She was, however, quite surprised. 3 “None of us knew that Ruth had ever had a daughter.” Apparently, Ruth gave birth to my mother without ever telling anyone. In the 1960s, Ruth’s immediate family all lived near the East coast of the United States, places like New Jersey and Ohio. Around that time, Ruth had moved alone to California, where my mother was born. She secretly gave her up for adoption and never made mention of it to anyone… with one exception. In Ruth’s elderly years, as dementia set in and her health declined, she asked her niece to live with her. Ruth had no other children, and needed someone to care for her. When her niece admitted she would be unable to take on the task, Ruth proclaimed, “If you won’t take care of me, my daughter will — call my daughter!” No one thought twice that what Ruth had said might be true. They wrote it off as a possibly senile statement from their rapidly aging aunt. Moving forward from the initial email contact, the information flowed from my mom’s cousin. Wendy learned the unfortunate truth that Ruth had passed away only a month before, in October 2016. As devastating as this was, my Mom never seemed too torn up with the fact she would never meet Ruth. She always seemed to be at peace that she was receiving any answers at all. 4 Marion sent my mom Ruth’s birth certificate, her wedding certificate, her college degree. She gave my mom information about her mom’s personality and her struggle with Bipolar Disorder. She got my mom in touch with every surviving member of the family; they sent her videos of family parties and memories of Ruth, and lots (and lots) of family pictures. My small, immediate family of myself, my two siblings, my parents, and my dad’s parents, suddenly got much larger. We poured over these photos. We held up pictures of Ruth next to my sister’s face and identified the origin of her thin lips and pointy nose and narrow eyebrows. I learned that my olive skin, the complexion that no one else in my family bears, has genealogical roots in the Drescher side of my family. It was finally coming together—we’re Jewish! And, possibly more astounding, we’re Hungarian! 5 6 CONCEPTUAL CONTEMPLATION In 2014 and 2015, I took a yearlong Praxis Lab course in the Honors College dedicated to researching and applying the concept of “redefining health and wellness”. The class dismantled the common conception of wellness as strictly relating to the physical body, and expanded it to include several interconnected areas of wellness. This concept was pioneered in the 1970s by Dr. Bill Hettler, MD. He wrote that wellness is, “An active process through which the individual becomes aware of and makes choices toward a more successful existence. These choices are greatly influenced by one's self-concept and the parameters of one's culture and environment. Each individual develops a unique life style that changes daily in the reflection of his or her intellectual, emotional, physical, social, occupational, and spiritual dimensions. Wellness is a positive approach to living-an approach that emphasizes the whole person.” In the class, we also discussed financial, environmental, intellectual, and sexual wellness as parts of the greater whole. This idea of “the whole person” really had an effect on me. I decided to comprehend and understand 7 my “new” family was through the conceptual lens of the dimensions of wellness. Most of the time, we view people, places, and things, and judge them based on solely visual input. I would like to prove, through this research, that a more holistic approach is needed to completely understand one’s place in the world, and one’s relationship to a complex network of preexisting conditions. My thesis, titled (Un)known Origin, is my personal journey to connecting with this newfound information; encapsulating the constantly evolving duality of both my own schema of knowing, as well as troves of unknown information, people, places, and history. All this time, I had known myself through my father’s lineage as the product of a long line of pioneers, sheriffs, and cattle ranchers from Randolph, Utah. The most “diversity” I had known, as it pertained to my family, was my Great Aunt Connie shooting badgers with a rifle out of the back of a white pick-up truck. Going from the plains of the great American West, to the majestic spires of Budapest is quite an adventurous journey. To start, I grouped the dimensions together into ones that would make the most sense visually. I decided to compartmentalize the work into the following categories: 1. Environmental 2. Mental, Emotional and Intellectual 3. Spiritual and Sexual 4. Physical and Social 8 in on these aspects of health and wellness as I developed my imagery and ideas helped hone my focus and expand my vision. In a very real way, as I searched for meaning in my newfound family history, I simultaneously came to comprehend myself better, and increased my own holistic health, especially my spiritual health. In academia, spirituality is often overlooked in favor of the empirical, but spirituality is a real and living presence in the world, and is a necessary part of overall human wellness. Hettler defined it as, “one’s ongoing involvement in seeking meaning and purpose in human existence. It includes a deep appreciation for the depth and expanse of life and natural forces that exist in the universe”. I believe that one of the goals of art is to help enhance the spiritual life of humans. Thus, my artwork, as well as this research, becomes inherently spiritual to me. Sketchbook spread, pencil, pen and marker, 10” x 20”, 2017 . 9 AN ICONOGRAPHIC PILGRIMAGE “Woods”, relief print, 16” x 20”, 2014 10 “Relative Obscurity”, Lithography, 16 “ x 20” 2013 11 Long before I had any conscious conception that I was from Hungary, I was drawn towards Eastern European art and iconography. In my pieces above, I had already started to dive into the rich visual language and aesthetics of eastern Europe. In “Woods” I drew inspiration from old Russian and Czech woodcuts, the bird, and flowers are distinctly of the region, and the eyes on the creature were appropriated from an image of an owl. In “Relative Obscurity” I explored the conception of the self, both knowing and being known by others. Partly a self-portrait, it begs the viewer to search around the image, looking for meaning. There are Turkish patterns, and a woman in a head scarf, additionally, there is a paisley printed bandana in the corner. Looking at this piece, one would think that it is part of my (Un)known Origin body of work, the identity of the figures is obscured, and there is a combination of eastern and western patterns and motifs. These Top: Man ploughing with oxen with bells. Open work panel attached to the side of a hardwood table. 13.2 cm, carved by János Bertók, Piliny, Nógrá County. Bottom: Man and woman going to work in the fields, the woman carrying a rake on her shoulder, the man a scythe. Open work panel attached to the site of a hardwood table. Carved by János Bertók, Piliny, Nógrá County. 12 are just a few examples of how I was guided along an iconographic path towards finding my true lineage. With such foggy perceptions of Ruth, I hoped to uncover her roots, to gain a better understanding of where she came from. The anglicized form of Drescher is Thresher, or someone who works in the fields threshing and harvesting wheat. Because of this, I drew inspiration from Hungarian folk relics. Embroidered aprons and clothes, painted chests and boxes, and woven textiles. I digested their patterns, the hand-drawn elements, the religious themes, and the muted color scheme featuring navy, deep red, mustard yellow, sandy beige and white. Hanging salt cellar with lid and drawer, Traditional Hungarian linen embroidery. Front of a painted chest, detail, 42 cm, Kalotaszeg region, Rumania, 1825. 13 Sketchbook spread, 2017 14 (UN)KNOWN ORIGIN: THE SERIES ENVIRONMENTAL WELLNESS “Kényszerült”, (Displaced), Photoetch, 3” x 5”, 2017 15 16 “Egy Másik Hely” (A Different Place), laser cut relief, 12” x 12” each, 2017 17 Environmental wellness is an interesting concept, because in one regard, we control our environment. We choose where to live, how we organize our living spaces, and the objects we surround ourselves with, but on the other hand, much of our living environment is out of our hands. The above works all explore the dissonance between choosing to be somewhere, and feeling stuck or glued to a location. The initial piece of my series “Kényszerült” ("Displaced") was my first foray into photo etching, which takes the traditional hand done process of intaglio and adds a digital element with a halftone, and an exposure, a lot like developing film. Ruth is shown in her kitchen, I added flowers from Ruth’s garden into the background, as well as the textures of decay. The flowers reference our created environment, while the decay represents the uncontrollable aspects of our surroundings. Ruth can be viewed as either slowly disappearing from the frame, or slowly emerging. This piece inspired my later print in the series, “Elválasatás, Elszigeteltség, Találkozás” (Separation, Isolation, Encounter") In the four-part work “Egy Másik Hely” ("A Different Place”) this relationship between the individual and the environment is further explored. In the first panel, Melanie Lang, one of my Hungarian ancestors is pictured in the streets of Budapest, Hungary, with the iconic spires of the cathedrals looming in the background, an ever-visible reminder of Hungarian culture. She was born in that place, and grew up to become a well-known and charismatic opera singer. She chose to immigrate to the United States, hence the path made out of the American Flag. The second panel is Ruth Drescher on a beach in California in 1960, according to the inscription. My mom was born a year later, in 1961. 18 According to that timing, maybe my mom’s father was behind the lens of the camera that day on the beach. A photo sent to family from the other side of the country is a unique memento, a distillation and simplification of a complex and intricate life story. It is easy to get an impression from a photo that may not line up perfectly with reality. After this photo was taken, Ruth would have a child in less than a year. That child, my mother, would be put up for adoption, losing control of her environment, and becoming severed from her heritage. Nevertheless, the spires of the cathedral persist in the background, however this time a bit more faintly. The third panel shows my mother somewhere between age 2 and 4, and her sister Jeri circa 1964, juxtaposed with the newspaper photo that appeared in the local newspaper in Dayton Ohio, announcing the Marriage of Ruth Carole Drescher to Larry Lates. The marriage happened in LA in 1963. My mom was in Simi Valley. So close in proximity, but so far away. The infinite symbol and the traditional Hungarian pattern on both dresses tie together a mother and her daughter, despite the physical separation. The last panel shows my mom in her teens circa 1978 in California. She bears a striking resemblance to the Drescher sisters. Pictured alone, in reference to her independent and free spirit, she stands in the California sunshine, the silhouette of the cathedral in the background is absent, pushed away from all recognition. In its place, California, an Arco gas station ran by Wendy’s adopted father, and Wendy. The truth will eventually be made known, when really it is there the whole time, waiting patiently for us to discover it. 19 MENTAL / EMOTIONAL / INTELLECTUAL WELLNESS To start to understand the psychological health of my ancestors, I started by evaluating my own. I’m analytical. I think about every move I make and every word I say. I observe the world around me closely, both with an intent to understand it, and an intent to understand my place in it. I’m anxious. My ambitions are big, but my inability to be meticulously refined in all aspects leaves me feeling overwhelmed. I try to process twelve tasks all at once, and it lends itself to occasional feelings of high-stress and inadequacy. These traits are not unlike my mother’s. She is very compassionate. She cares about everyone and everything so much so that if she feels she lets people down, even to the smallest degree, she will allow it to fog up her judgement, and view herself in a negative light. Of course, no one else views her that way. She’s perfect. I always knew that I inherited my mother’s anxious nature, but it was relieving to both of us to have an idea of where it came from. It was Ruth. It was her Bipolar Disorder. I feel inclined to insert here that we don’t know why Ruth gave up my mom for adoption. We don’t know, for sure, who her Dad was, as Ruth was only married after she had my Mom. And since no one in her life knew she had a daughter, no one can confirm why she gave her up. It may have been because as she struggled with manic depression, and felt inadequate to care for a child. 20 This is not the first time I have addressed mental health and anxiety in my artwork. Following are some examples of the imagery and visual language I have developed over the last few years to address the topic of anxiety and mental health. I wanted my new thesis work to continue along with my visual language, while adding new characters that simultaneously are read as human and inhuman or monstrous. The characters I create bridge the gap between being a relatable figure, capable of receiving empathy and relating to human emotions, and strange monsters, unknown figures that make the viewer just a little bit uncomfortable. “Anxiety”, Lithograph, 12” x 16”, 2014 21 “Self”, Lithography, 16” x 20”, 2014 22 “Clutch”, Screenprint, 15” x 19”, 2015 23 “I’ll Be Alright”, Screen Print, 12” x 12” 24 As I was researching ways to visually represent bipolar disorder through the lens of Hungarian culture, while simultaneously staying true to my artistic concepts, I stumbled upon Busójárás festival at Mohács, Hungary. At the end of February, to celebrate the end of winter, there is a large, 6-day festival. The celebrations invite a swarm of horned creatures, known as Busós. These monsters are intended to be something to be feared. They are a representation of Hungary’s Battle of Mohács, where they drove away the Turkish army in 1526. The Busós wear thick handmade costumes of wool and sheepskin. Their faces are hidden by emotive horned masks, each one hand carved for its owner. While designed to intimidate and mask the identity of the wearer, behind every grotesque mask is a human, a person with a mom and a dad, sisters and brothers. I found this to be a perfect representation of the highs and lows of bipolar disor- Sketchbook spread, pencil, pen, 10” x 10”, 2017 25 der, anxiety, manic behavior and depression; fearsome, but gentle, victorious, and ominous. On a personal level, I find the ritual of putting on a mask to be a perfect foil for the mess of our everyday lives. We put on a nice mask to go to the store or to work, and we hide behind masks of confidence, when inside we are scared. I can relate to putting on a mask of “feeling fine" when in reality I am battling inner demons of self-doubt, anxiety, and crippling fear. Superimposed in the background of the two smaller pieces is a photo of scattered Sertraline pills, or generic Zoloft. A medication that both my mom and I have taken to help with anxiety and depression. The larger piece also contains a pill, as well as emblems of flowers in the traditional Hungarian folk art style. Ruth loved to garden, and I’d like to imagine that is was therapeutic for her when struggling with mental illness. I made the specific design choice to incorporate the pill in the center piece as part of the flower. This choice ties together the “natural” remedy of gardening to the “synthetic” remedy of taking medication. By placing the pill in a flower, I intend to call to attention that they chemicals and ingredients in many pharmecuticals come from the Earth. There is a stigma attached to mental health that you should just be able to hunker down and get over it. When in reality, medication is a natural part of treatment, and is of great benefit to many people struggling with mental health disorders. 26 "A Busójárás Maszk Elrejti az Instabil” (The Busójárás Mask Hides the Unstable), screen print, 16” x 20”, 2017 27 “A Pszichotikus Érzelmek El Vannak Rejtve”, (Psychotic Emotions Are Hidden), screen print, 16” x 20”, 2017 28 “Hagyja, Hogy a Szerelme Magasodjon, Majd Temesse el a Földön” (Let Your Love Grow Tall, and Bury it in the Earth), Reductive woodcut, 22” x 30”, 2017 29 SPIRITUAL AND SEXUAL WELLNESS “Rejtett Gyermek. Biztonságosan Az Élet Fája Alatt” (Hidden Child. Safely Under The Tree Of Life), screen print, 16” x 20”, 2017 30 My mom, once adopted, was raised by the Taylors in Simi Valley, California. She speaks about her childhood in short quips, never with much information. She was raised in a spiritually-stagnant home. Her spirit, however, was bold. She had a strong desire to maintain a close, personal relationship with the divine, with other people and with God. I wanted to make a print that tied themes of sexuality, fertility, motherhood, with those of spirituality, eternity, and love. In traditional Hungarian folklore, there is a woman named Boldogasszony Anyánk or Nagyboldogasszony. This translates into “blessed lady or blessed mother.” In the Middle Ages, Hungary’s blessed mother became infused with the Virgin Mary, forming a beacon of home, a symbol of fertility and love. The idea of a “mother earth” is widespread across all religions and cultures. I chose to incorporate the image of Boldogasszony into the piece, “Rejtett Gyermek. Biztonságosan Az Élet Fája Alatt” (Hidden Child, Safely Under The Tree Of Life. Using the image of the mother holding a child draws obvious parallels to images of the Virgin Mary holding the Christ-child. In the image, the woman can also represent Ruth, my grandmother holding my mom. Ruth was an angel. She was strong enough to have a child, and strong enough to keep it a secret. Some might say that giving a child up for adoption is weak, I say that it is a point of strength to give someone you love away, to give them a better life that you may not have been able to offer them. It’s hard to believe that Ruth never thought about my mother again. She selflessly gave up her daughter to give the child a better life. There is nothing more spiritually significant in Christian Iconography than the symbol of the parent sacrificing their 31 child, the epitome and perfect example of which is God the father sacrificing Christ, his Son. Another symbol utilized in this print is the Hungarian Crest, which evokes the image of the Az Élet Faja, meaning World Tree, or Tree of life. According to Hungarian Ethnographer Vilmos Diószegi, “in Hungarian myth, the world is divided into three spheres: the first is the Upper World (Felső világ), the home of the gods; the second is the Middle World (Középső világ) or world we know, and finally the underworld (Alsó világ). In the center of the world stands a tall tree: The World Tree or Tree of life.” The icon of the tree is used extensively in Hungarian embroidery. “The tree is one of the most potent of symbols. Its roots delve into the underworld, its trunk links the earth to the heavens — it transcends all three spheres. Its life-cycle unfurls before our eyes in each season of the year, the symbolism of birth, maturity, death and rebirth embodied in leaf, bud and fruit” (Paine 71). This belief ties closely to my family’s religion; that this life is not the end, but rather that families are tied together across eternity, and even though we missed Ruth by one month, we are still connected and bound to her spiritually. I have represented the three worlds or spheres using the Sun, Moon and stars, each emanating more light than the previous. From the top of the composition, the hands of God reach down, offering a safe place for Ruth and her child. PHYSICAL AND SOCIAL WELLNESS 32 33 34 35 36 “Elválasatás, Elszigeteltség, Találkozás” 1-5 (Separation, Isolation, Encounter), details, intaglio with aquatint, spitbite, and destruction ground, each 22” x 30”, 2017 37 My final piece of work, is a series of 5 prints, all 22” x 30” with a 5” x 7” image of Ruth. The prints are presented from left to right, starting with the most obscured face, and progressing to the the clearest one. This progression and concept are tied to the real-life experience of how we found out about Ruth; we always knew she existed, but it wasn’t until the present moment that we found out who she really was. This focus on the individual, and her physical features focuses the print on physical wellness, and the fact that she is slowly coming into focus and vision of the viewer references social wellness. We don’t get to know people in an instant. It is a process that takes time and energy and work. Just like the process of Intaglio printing, where copper is etched by degrees in ferric acid, isn’t instantaneous, but is a process where the result is revealed slowly over time. I have kept the frame of the original photo in my piece in reference to the fact that since Ruth passed away before we met her, the photo is the most intimate object we associate with her. Turning this vintage photo into a copper plate etching adds a sense of permanence to the work. My family never got to meet Ruth, but she completely changed our entire understanding of our place the world. Our family found peace and answers to medical, spiritually, intellectual, and genetic questions we had been harboring our entire lives. As her face slowly appeared into our lives, so also did the answers and the reassurance that we exist because of her, and her traits are the genetic substance of our beings. She is an integral part of our family, and she always will be. As we connect to our roots, we find purpose. As we unveil our origin, we come to find ourselves. Through this project I have discovered a newfound sense of purpose and identity in the world. A lot of my art over the past few years dealt with identity, but in the realm 38 of the unknown. Now that I have a cultural heritage to link myself to, my art has changed and become more personal. I have identified new elements to add to my visual language, expanding on my past themes of general anxiety, and tying it more to personal feeling and anecdotal experience, as seen in the pieces, “Zoloft” and “Bodyoscopy” below. Both pieces are tied to my personal history of medical problems, and were heavily influenced by the work I was doing on “(Un)known Origin”. I used as reference, DNA strands, photos I took of pills, textures from biological images, and my own personal documented medical history. The work I have completed is successful in its goal of bringing the unknown and the known together. It did this through including all aspects of the individual; physical, social, mental, emotional, intellectual, sexual, and environmental. I also discovered new ways of solving design problems, how to bring separate elements together to form a cohesive whole. I have been in correspondence with Ruth’s family, and they absolutely love the final result and are waiting to see more. This project has brought us together. 39 Test Prints and Progress 40 “Zoloft”, Screen Print, 8”x10”, 2017 41 “Bodyoscopy”, Screen Print, 14” x 19”, 2017 42 REFERENCES Bourne, Henry. Portraits From Hungary's Busojaras Festival https://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2017/03/16/t-magazine/portraits-fromhungarys-busojaras-festival/s/10tmag-festival-slide-I102.html?smid=pin-share Busójárás Festival. https://cdn.theculturetrip.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/02/ busjrs.jpg. N.p., n.d. Web. Diószegi, Vilmos (1998) [1958]. A sámánhit emlékei a magyar népi műveltségben (1. reprint kiadás ed.). Budapest: Akadémiai Kiadó. ISBN 963-05-7542-6 Hettler Bill Wellness promotion on a university campus (1980) Family and Community Health, 3 (1) , pp. 77-95. Kati, Gábor. “A MAGYAROK TUDÁSA.” A Mi Drága Nagy BoldogAsszony Anyánk, Jan. 1ADAD, emf-kryon.blogspot.hu/search/label/ A%20Mi%20Dr%C3%A1ga%20NagyBoldogAsszonyAny%C3%A1nk. Kozakand, Roman. Folk Costume and Embroidery, 7 June 2014, folkcostume.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/costume-and-embroidery-ofmezokovesd.html#links. Paine, Sheila. Embroidered Textiles, Traditional Patterns from Five Continents. Rizzoli International Publications. New York, 1990. Pages 71 and 79