Belonging to the collection of the @nashermuseum at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, “Untitled #1111 (Little Ed’s Daughter Margaret),” 2003-04, is a wax sculpture that projects from the wall and comes to rest on the floor. “Untitled #1111 (Little Ed’s Daughter Margaret),” 2003-04, Duke University’s first purchase in their new museum, was acquired in 2005. Prior to this, the piece was shown in “Above and Beneath the Skin,” curated by Douglas Dreishpoon and organized by the @buffaloakgartmuseum in its first iteration at @galerielelong and @sculpturecenter. The sculpture was then exhibited at the Nasher Museum of Art in “The Forest: Politics, Poetics and Practice,” a 2006 group show curated by @goncharov.kathy. Additionally, it was shown in “ARS 06: Sense of the Real,” at the @kiasmamuseum in Helsinki, Finland. “ARS:06” is an installment of the ARS exhibitions, a major series of international contemporary art shows at the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma. While lecturing in Nashville, Tennessee, a very distinguished man gifted me a small box. His mother died tragically when he was a boy living in Chicago. Asked by his distant Southern family what belongings of hers he wished to keep he chose only a braid of her red hair. Inside that small box was her braid; he said he knew I would put it to good use. Such sadness emanated from this gentleman, and it was apparent the loss of his mother had left an incredible void inside of him, that he felt untethered without her. The Nasher Museum of Art, surrounded by woods, reminded me of the opening lines of “Dante’s Inferno.” Through this sculpture, I imagined this man’s mother, with her crown of red hair, wandering through the forest, activity occurring all around her— danger, excitement, life—yet she perseveres. She cries from time to time, and eagle-eyed viewers may notice her tears as they fall, illuminated by the light, or when they make brief contact with the ground; these tear drops make her garden grow. #petahcoyne #contemporaryart #sculpture #womenartists #nashermuseum #buffaloakgartmuseum #douglasdreishpoon #kathleengoncharov #kiasmamuseum