Advisor: Isak Berbic

Oh Mother, What Have We Done?

Cinthia Alvarez-Buonaiuto
Oh Mother, What Have We Done?
19″w x 17.25″h x 1.875″d
Wood
Stained glass
LED lights

Artist Statement
I wanted to create something beautiful for this semester’s Honors Project – something that incorporates my love for color and form, but beauty alone has no depth or meaning. Initial ideas were based on motherhood, fertility and worldly demands. I ultimately decided to create an illuminated stained-glass window based on climate change.

The figure in the piece depicts Mother Nature as a woman in three phases – past, present, future. She is beautiful, fertile and the bearer of life. She provides us with food, drink, warmth. The stressed earth surrounds her. Our waters are rising, our crops are dry we say. A hungry polar bear cries out, birds migrate searching for hospitable weather and food while charred trees stand against raging fires and smoke stacks billow toxins into our air. Hands are reaching out to Mother – they need answers, they need help. We are beautiful and yet we struggle.

Stained glass was traditional used as a way to tell a story.
This window tells our story in hopes to impart change.

The creative process to produce this piece can be found on my blog:
https://motherwhathavewedone.blogspot.com/