Trees are record holders and storytellers. Among the annual growth rings, one can learn a variety of things including the number of years and the severity of the seasons that the tree has passed through.
This handmade dress, dyed in cedar wood, has been made to resemble a cross section of a tree. Encircling the dress are passages from the journal of the Utah Pioneer, Sarah Pea DeArmon Rich. I am one of her descendants. Evidence of her trials and triumphs are embedded in her journal. The phrase “knew you would/they would be here” comes from the passages of the journal naturally lining up along the rings of text. As I transcribed Sarah’s words, she seemed to be speaking to me, acknowledging the interaction between the past and the present.
Sara Lynne Lindsay 