DISTRESSED AFFECTION / IRMELI PUPPANA
AMBRA BYRNE
BA TEXTILE
2024
BA TEXTILE
2024
A timeline of materials; Saved objects and material from my own and my mothers past - shredded, modified and embodied.
This project continues my earlier work “Droopy Dolly” where I repurposed old stuffed animals to cope with my grief after losing my mother in 2021. These stuffed animals, a childhood comfort, helped me process my sorrow.
In “Distressed Affection / Irmeli Puppana,” I explore my grief and my relationship with my mother. I recall:
“When I was six years old, I woke up one night by the sound of the home phone. Mom answered but didn’t say much, and you could hear her voice was muted by tears. Ukki, my grandfather, had just passed away, but she didn’t tell me that then. I, my mom, and little brother shared a huge bed where I slept on the outside, closest to the living room door. That night, I had a dream
, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy. The creaking living room door slowly opened, and there stood Ukki, a shadow of himself dressed in a clown costume. His figure always reminded me of Joulu Pukki. In the hand that lacked a thumb, he held two shriveled balloons, like those that are losing their air, one red and one yellow, their strings dancing in the air. Like gifts from the afterlife. After that night followed a ten-year period where my mom drowned her sorrows with a box of Gato Negro and a pack of Elixyr a day by the cluttered kitchen table.”
These dreams and dolls became a therapeutic way to revisit and heal from past wounds.
The materials reflect a timeline of my mother's life, our shared home, her illness, and my present without h
er. They create a dialogue between past and present.
The result is a space blending light and darkness, dream, memory, and reality. It suggests a world where objects are imbued with life. Inspired by my childhood, my mother’s and my own grief, these dolls reflect my journey through loss.
This project continues my earlier work “Droopy Dolly” where I repurposed old stuffed animals to cope with my grief after losing my mother in 2021. These stuffed animals, a childhood comfort, helped me process my sorrow.
In “Distressed Affection / Irmeli Puppana,” I explore my grief and my relationship with my mother. I recall:
“When I was six years old, I woke up one night by the sound of the home phone. Mom answered but didn’t say much, and you could hear her voice was muted by tears. Ukki, my grandfather, had just passed away, but she didn’t tell me that then. I, my mom, and little brother shared a huge bed where I slept on the outside, closest to the living room door. That night, I had a dream
, blurring the lines between reality and fantasy. The creaking living room door slowly opened, and there stood Ukki, a shadow of himself dressed in a clown costume. His figure always reminded me of Joulu Pukki. In the hand that lacked a thumb, he held two shriveled balloons, like those that are losing their air, one red and one yellow, their strings dancing in the air. Like gifts from the afterlife. After that night followed a ten-year period where my mom drowned her sorrows with a box of Gato Negro and a pack of Elixyr a day by the cluttered kitchen table.”
These dreams and dolls became a therapeutic way to revisit and heal from past wounds.
The materials reflect a timeline of my mother's life, our shared home, her illness, and my present without h
er. They create a dialogue between past and present.
The result is a space blending light and darkness, dream, memory, and reality. It suggests a world where objects are imbued with life. Inspired by my childhood, my mother’s and my own grief, these dolls reflect my journey through loss.
