YAYA BOX HISTORY CHAPTER 1

YAYA BOX HISTORY CHAPTER 1

I. The Spark

In 1991, I graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree. That fall, I began my Master of Arts program as a graduate assistant. I was creating a great deal of hands‑on artwork, always aware that I had yet to choose a thesis project. What follows is what led to the first YaYa Box Project.

Sometime in 1992, I watched a television movie that mentioned a tradition called the YaYa Box. In this tradition, significant people, places, and events in a woman’s life are represented on the outside of a box, while her internal thoughts and feelings are expressed on the inside.

For months afterward, I couldn’t stop thinking about how this concept might become the foundation for my thesis exhibition. I invited six women who were significant in my life to participate: N, my art history professor; Y, my fellow graduate student; M, a longtime friend whose life had been intertwined with mine for years; G, my intuitive astrologer friend; S, my therapist who was deeply engaged in dream work; and J, a friend navigating profound grief and self‑reflection. The number seven has always held meaning for me, so I would join them as L, the seventh participant.

The process grew out of my deepening interest in filling in women’s personal and collective histories — helping them (and myself) discover their true selves. My research traced the tradition to the Caribbean and likely goes further back to Africa. “YaYa” also means “grandmother” in Greek, which feels fitting. The tradition involves painting important elements of a woman’s life on the outside of the box, while the inside reflects her inner world.