Steph Rue

Sign Here

2025

Medium: Graphite on hanji (Korean mulberry paper), cotton batting, thread

Dimensions: 22 ½ x 13 ½ in.

Price: $1200.0

Description: My father speaks in incoherent run-on sentences, a litany of non sequiturs. Last summer the stroke left him unable to read, write, or comprehend people's words. Listening to him reminds me of how I feel trying to communicate with Korean elders or sitting in Korean church. There is next to no comprehension, only exaggerated gestures and occasional moments of recognition. A few months ago I had to forge my dad's signature on a document. I practiced writing his name over and over. The letters took on a life of their own. I traced their forms on scraps of paper I made last summer. I stitched the pieces together and quilted them into a blanket, like the one my dad uses at the residential care home. The letters like the scrabble tiles we try to use with my dad to help restore his language. He refuses again and again, but we keep trying.