"With death so near, Mother must have felt like someone on the brink of freedom, ready to start life all over again. No one, no one in the world had any right to weep for her."

- Albert Camus, The Outsider

Somewhere between chaos and control, there is a field of possibility. Between self-doubt and exhilarating assurance, fear and hope, loathing and love, exists a battleground where every choice is a victory and each triumph leads one closer to the rim of an inevitable abyss. There on the edge, on the horizon between past and future--this fleeting moment and the surge of all those to come--one must abandon the comfort of familiarity and sever the ties which bind the self to any sense of certainty. The only way to survive is to strip the self bare, plunging headlong into the darkness and, with a smile, to embrace the unknown.

These works are the manifestation of preparation, of self-doubt, confessions of weakness, of fear, strength and of worry and depression. This paint and paper, these bits of string and wooden frames, photographs and mementos, they pave the way to acceptance. They both farewell and hello. They are a final purge, a readying for the next step and an attempt to capture, to prove and celebrate the existence of a girl who is and was, right here, right now.

- Samantha Meiler, Spring 2011