Emily Leach, Sifting
Based on sifting screens used in artifact recovery and forensic fieldwork, this sifting device is a simplified version of a family diagram (specifically called a "genogram") drawn by the artist's mother.
Emily Leach, Sifting
Unlike traditional family trees, genograms are intended to identify intergenerational patterns of behavior and heredity. The circular pocket cuts represent women, the hexagons represent men, and the grooves that connect them describe the nature of their relationships.
Emily Leach, Sifting

This piece is a recreation and extension of work started by the artist's mother as a college assignment.

Devoid of the written information which accompanies the original genogram, the audience is left to speculate on the content and the scope of the project.

Emily Leach, Sifting

The tripod is lashed together with sisal rope.

"A family tree had never been attempted on either side of my Afro-American family. With only one surviving uncle on my mother’s side, half of my familial history was in dire danger of vanishing out of existence and recognition."
Sylvia Leach, excerpt from A Family Genogram, December 1983
Plywood tray, tamarack poles, rope
2018 | 6' x 6' x 10'