Entwined - of loss, reunion and transformation
Dr Gail Shafarman writes of Entwined:
In this powerful and penetrating book Joyce Scott lyrically resumes her childhood role of translator and interpreter in words, telling Judy's inspiring story with poetic grace and deep insight.
Preface:
If there was ever a human being who seemed to have little possibility of genius,
with no future other than a short and dismal life warehoused among the mentally
defective, it was the now world-renowned artist, Judith Scott.
Judy was born with Down syndrome in a time when
such children were generally separated from their parents at birth and left to
die alone and un-nurtured in the back wards of state institutions. She was
also born with a serious heart defect when this was an
incurable affliction. Like Helen Keller, Judy contracted scarlet fever and lost her hearing before she learned to
speak. Undiagnosed — and in consequence misdiagnosed as profoundly retarded — her
deafness not only isolated her, but also condemned her to a life without hope of
education, training or fulfilment.
She was a woman, institutionalized
and unnoticed for thirty-five years, who lived sixty -two years without
words. But Judy was never entirely alone. She and her sister were blessed
to be born as twins – coupled in the womb, then sleeping together year after
year. For seven years, night and day, the twins were inseparable. They shared the sand and earth world of childhood, playing with mud and
mulberries, dirt and dandelions. They were wild explorers, and in the long hot days of summer, lived simply, richly,
discovering new worlds, always shared, always rich in sense and feeling, always
without words. They inhabited an Ohio landscape where the trees, stones, and stars were alive with meaning.
And then they were parted; suddenly torn apart in
the early morning darkness while they slept. Judy was taken from her
family and placed in the only program available for children with disabilities,
a state sponsored hell of dark rooms and high ceilings, a place of strange,
invasive smells, and moaning bodies writhing on the floor.
Entwined is the story of how Judy survived this ordeal, and how her family entered
their own hell of grief and compounded losses; their mother’s breakdown, their
father’s death. It is the story
of how Joyce eventually went on with her life – always unconsciously searching
for her lost sister.
Finally, it is the extraordinary tale of how one moment of spiritual clarity made possible
their reunion — and led to the birth of a great artist.
Judy is now celebrated for her unique creativity, with an acclaimed collection
of fiber sculptures that are exhibited in museums and galleries around the
world. She will be remembered not for her limitations, but for her glorious creations, formed from discarded
objects, endlessly wrapped in yarns and fibers, creating forms of subtle color,
astonishing shape and sublime beauty.
Some Pictures from Entwined
