The Shroud of I-90 Jane Doe, A Shroud for Ermelinda Garza, and A Shroud for Tonya Teske

Funded in part with grants from the Alexa Rose Foundation, the Idaho Commission on the Arts, and the Boise State University College of Arts and Sciences.

In this body of work I am handweaving burial shrouds to commemorate the victims of the Great Basin Murders, a cluster of primarily unsolved homicides spanning the 1970’s through 90’s in which female victims were found dumped along highways in the Mountain West region. Through devotional craft I handweave burial shrouds using details about each case to give these women a gesture of respect not previously afforded to them. I am collaborating with Carrie Quinney who documents the woven shrouds at the sites where each victim was found, stylistically synthesizing crime scene documentation and landscape photography. Taken amid the Western landscape, these images position the shrouds as bodies, contextualizing the series in art historical precedents considering violence against women.