Daniel Totem

“Daniel Totem” pours my conflicting feelings about my youngest son into an art work I created from a cigar box . (Cigar stores often throw them away, and they come in different sizes and shapes) . Daniel suffers from Bipolar disease which makes life very difficult. As his Mom, I feel his struggles acutely, and as an artist I have looked for a way to sublimate these feelings into a visual object that simultaneously brings me closer to his truth and allows me a compassionate way to understand it. Daniel is an artist in his own right; graffiti art is his passion. I always thought the image of him when he was only a six year old was powerful. As I painted it on the box I remembered how mischievous and mysterious he was even then, which is emphasized in the way the towel covers up part of his little face.

Contributed by: Karen Allen
Created by: Karen Allen
Origin: This is part of a series of works I am making from repurposed cigar boxes, paint and collage