Inheritance is most often an involuntary affair: a room full of objects, an archive of documents, and a perceived or real imperative to continue traditions started by others. I inherited 125 snapshots of Mount Rainier all taken by my mother, Amy Lee Davis, between 1935 and 2006 with film cameras, brownie to 35 mm. I translated these snapshot mountain silhouettes with embroidery onto handkerchiefs. Each stitch locating me: this is where she stood, where she collected, where she reached out to grasp what she wanted to hold forever.

In five months of nightly embroidery I didn’t achieve all 125 views of Mount Rainier. But, Mom had 88 years to accomplish her obsession, and as it turned out 88 is the number of handkerchiefs I completed when collection obsession closed. I will finish them: each one a story, a connection, her mountain, my mountain, my obsession now.

collection obsession was part of wait, where am i, a collaborative storefront exhibition in Tacoma, WA from October 2010 to February 2011.