Dominion

Dominion

The aquarium is submerged, its captives free.
Joyce Carey
Dominion
Dominion by Joyce Carey
Dominion by Joyce Carey

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Dominion © 2007 by Joyce Carey. Hand and machine sewn of cotton, polyester, metallic fabrics, hand embroidered, inkjet printed. 36 x 24 inches.

Joyce Carey drew inspiration from two sources for her art quilt Dominion: Genesis 1:28 (“be fruitful and multiply. . . and have dominion”) and her own essay, “Inversion,” which describes a visit to the aquarium in San Francisco:

I settle outside on a bench at the end of the wharf. I let my gaze drift far out to sea.

I sense the water rising, creeping up the pier, up the bridge, millimeter by millimeter. An ancient icepack thousands of miles away dissolves with every breath I take. The aquarium is submerged, its captives free. Streets give way to canals; workers erect bubbles, small terrariums—then larger and larger domes. Tunnels connect the bubbles, the world gone topsy-turvy, water above and air below.

Indigo shadows are lengthening along the pier. It is much later than I thought.


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