It can be scary walking alone. When we ignore or insult the needs and suffering of others, we lose them. People should not fade into silence. We are the Hourglass System. We are plural, which means we have multiple alters (personalities). Each alter creates different types of work. Our collective artworks retell our experiences with and bring awareness to mental and physical disabilities through development of sculptures, interactive objects, assistive devices, and writing.
Teres and Taz do creative and research-based writing, occasionally made into laser etchings. They retell our experiences in vivid and analogous detail. In Somatic Experiencing: Blood they describe, in visceral and explicit detail, what it’s like to experience flashbacks to events that never explicitly happened. They also develop engaging and intriguing resources to help others better understand different conditions. Our Plural FAQ seeks to address the most common questions about DID and plurality.
Xaler and Tico create multi-material sculptures as well as assistive devices using 3D printing. They have worked with resin and live wood to create beautiful harps that preserve the natural beauty of live wood down to the moss and dirt. Their development with assistive devices was born out of necessity, because we operate in a world that seldom accommodates us. They create simple and inexpensive solutions to seemingly uncommon issues. One example of these efforts can be found in our Crisis Cards, which provide detailed explanations of how others can help the individual with the cards during a medical emergency.
Our body of work merges conceptual and functional pieces to create a collection that ties art representing the disability with assistive devices we have designed and created. Our goal is to help foster an understanding of these disabilities—and assistive devices—to an abled audience. We also hope to offer a sense of connection and shared experience to a disabled audience. Because we will not fade into silence.