YAYA BOX HISTORY CHAPTER 3
III. The Friction
Five of us met at Fazoli’s on a Sunday afternoon — M, J, Y, S, and me. N and G couldn’t attend. We ate lunch and talked.
Y repeatedly steered the conversation back to the process: “So, about the box…” She asked pointed questions about logistics and responsibilities. J continued to voice negative comments about her box and her life. After listening to this several times, I finally said it would be impossible to fit the names of all the men she had been involved with on a box that small.
Later, thinking about how fragile she seemed, I called to offer her a way out of the project. She was distant and upset, especially about the comment regarding the men’s names. She felt we believed that was all she was about. I explained that my point was simply that none of us could fit our lives on a shoebox. After a couple of days, things felt better between us.
She asked what she could put inside the box. I told her I felt her sister, who had died two years earlier, could be represented both inside and out. I also reminded her of her deep love for the quilts her family made and suggested she might include a piece of one or use a quilt pattern in her design.
Leave a Reply