Artist Statement for I’m Perfectly Fine Without You

I grew up without a father. As far as I was concerned, he did not exist. There were no photographs, no name on the birth certificate, no meaningful objects that could hint what he could be like. My childhood was spent oblivious to the peculiarity of this absence; in my mind, it was entirely normal to be fatherless.

Those surrounding me reinforced this distinctive inclination. Many friends and acquaintances had been gifted with a missing or disinterested dad and were searching for answers and/or relationships, often resulting in disappointment. I heard varied stories with the same outcome, an indefinite absence and nebulous presence.

This on-going project is a collection of tenuous yet pointed memories shared by people who possess this common trait. The only criterion is that their father was missing during childhood, their formative years, with the sole exception being death. In some ways, their recollections mimic or parallel my own, allowing an indirect autobiography. Each storyteller discursively recounts memories from their past and present, coping with this complicated person, their father. The combination of all the speakers sums up a particular experience, grappling with and explaining an emotionally difficult topic in an unbiased manner while resisting ideology and easy categorization. The voices form a kind of confessional, with the listener as the recipient of their now unconcealed and personal divulgences.

Note: I am still seeking participants for this series. Please email me through the contact form or at daisy.a.patton at gmail dot com.