Description:

When reflecting on ways to connect with my Okinawan ancestry, I was called to make a small version of a traditional Okinawan tomb. When I visited Okinawan in 2010, I was just a girl; seeing the round stone tombs in the mountainside resonated with me. I recall how my mother explained to me that the tombs are round in shape to mimic the shape of a pregnant belly so that when you die, your body will be returned to the womb of the earth. The day before this piece came out of the kiln, my mother's mother, or Cha Cha as we called her, passed away. I realized then that I was called to make this tomb for her. I inscribed her last words, "kami was ai nari," or "God Is Love," in Japanese, on the top of the tomb.