[Sarah, 2-years old, died from an inoperable brain tumor]

It began as an early Mother’s Day gift: a photo purse that would feature a photograph of her “chubber,” two-year old Sarah, known for her delicious Sumo chubbiness. But a month later, little Sarah succumbed to an inoperable brain tumor, and her mother’s photo purse evolved into a portrait in memoriam. While Sarah would appear to have had too short a history on this earth, in fact, the little girl had quite the personality.

Sarah’s mother shared these details with me before I came up with the idea of a photomontage which whisked Sarah out of her highchair, perching her in the heavenly clouds of Rabuzin’s “Flowers and Sun”:

“She adored that Halloween spider that would crawl down from the ceiling when you clapped.

Having it and carrying her image around with me is comforting. It’s a physical connection that’s now become a spiritual connection.”

I asked Kerry a few years later what it was like wearing a purse with her deceased daughter’s picture on it.

“If anyone asks who she is, I just simply say that she is my daughter and nothing else. People don’t usually ask more then who it is. I like it that way. Carrying her image around with me is comforting. It’s a physical connection that’s now become a spiritual connection.”