Six months before my grandmother died, I dropped out of Oberlin College and enrolled in the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. I felt compelled to be in Chicago, and to help my family care for my grandmother before she passed. I completed the imagery for this project in 2004; now, eight years later, I am able to explain what it is about. There are two parts to this project. The first one is public — it is about embodying someone before they pass. The second part is private, photos that are not to be seen of someone who is passing on. 

PART I

The Edna Kolmas Janis Project: Me As My Grandmother

The first part of this project is called “Me as My Grandmother.” From August 2003–December 2003, I lived at my grandmother Edna and my grandfather Earl’s empty home in suburban Lincolnwood, Illinois. Earl passed away in 1999. Edna became a widow. She stayed in Lincolnwood until her Parkinson’s (with a dementia element) progressed, at which point she moved to an assisted living home in Skokie, Illinois. Their suburban home was empty, but the memories were still there. I wanted to live in this emotional space in order to both remember my childhood and be closer to Edna’s world. I journaled my experiences and emailed about the process and experience with my mentor, the artist Jean-Marie Casbarian. She encouraged me to continue digging. I visited Edna in the assisted living home as much as I could. I asked Edna if it was okay for me to live at her home. I remember her looking me straight in the eye and saying yes, that was fine with her. While I was staying at her home, I was inspired to re-stage old photographs of her in domestic settings. I replaced her with me. In doing so, I symbolically explored the roles of grandmother, mother, Jewish woman, housewife and accountant/master of all things related to the family business. I worked fast; Edna’s Parkinson’s were progressing fast, and I knew my time with her was limited.

Somewhere in the re-staging process, I lost the original photographs. Now all I have are the images I re-staged, which I believe is what Edna would have wanted. They hang in my living room in a way similar to the family photo arrangements that Edna always had in her home. Today the restaged images mix with actual photos from Edna and Earl’s life, marrying their spirits with my own.

Proud of Her Suburban Home (2004)

Baffled in Her Kitchen! (2004)

Watching the Cubs on TV (2004)

All photographs of “Alicia as Grandma Edna” by Caroline Voagen Nelson, 2004. 

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PART II: Portraits of Edna

Portraits of Edna in transition.

IMAGES AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST.

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EXHIBITIONS

The Edna Kolmas Janis Project will be presented in its entirety for the first time on February 22 as part of the art festival and book launch Why Marriage?

Familial Territory with Alicia Eler, Miller&Shellabarger, Melissa Potter, andMiriam Schaer, curated by Jessica Cochran