IN COLLABORATION WITH VICKI VANAMEYDEN Artists, Vicki Van Ameyden and I have been cooperating as a team on projects for the last three years. While recognizing the need to work large scale and in multiples in order to build sculptural or experiential environments, the projects have centered on content derived from discussions of our paralled life journeys. History Cairn and Kite Piece are projects that were inspired by the subsequent and serendipitous, acquirement of family photo albums as heirlooms due to the deaths of family members. Framing our ideas around the nostalgia generated from remembering our past through picture albums, we contemplated basic life stages: infancy (birth), youth, adulthood, old age and ultimately death. We built two installations speaking directly to two of life’s stages: youth and death. History Cairn references a burial mound, whereas, in Kite Piece a young girl’s dress is tethered to images of “her” past. This work represents a communal conversation on the influence of family history.