Here is the Bereaved Bride. Married perhaps three months. Her husband returned to her in a coffin. The bridesmaid questions herself, "Am I next?" She remains frozen in fear.

The bride now carries the burden of caring for her unborn child alone, her family, and her husband's family according to the traditions of her culture. She buries the dead and her hope as well.

The naked women represent the devaluation of women and their descent into prostitution. Women must sell themselves in order to survive, to feed their families. It is expected. They give up their flesh for the family. And it remains an eternally open wound.

You would recognize them. Their eyes are hollow. They have given away their vision, their future. They offer you their Wedding Gift.

Text By, Sandi Wicina, Curator of Arts
©2004. Art, War, and Peace Museum.