To Be and Become (Lost in the Becoming) investigates my journey to becoming a middle-aged woman. And is also about the loss of my mother. As it began to happen to me, I was quite shocked at how little I knew about what to expect from the transitional life phase called perimenopause. Much like puberty, it is not only a corporeal experience but also an experience of the mind and spirit. I found myself missing my mother’s love more than ever. This project was a way to have a conversation with her, to envision her experience and to imagine what guidance she might offer me. It was also a way to reflect on my childhood and my perceptions of the way the women in my life were during that time and to imagine the lives in which they may have felt captive. This was the late 70s and 80s in the rural south where there were clear notions of what was and was not proper in and out of the home.
