The Three D’s. Dans, Divorce, Debt.

Camisole de Force Series

By Jennifer Randall

Paper Mache Sculpture of first marriage divorce court documents. Fabric Overlay Apron with second marriage statistics and documents.

This was a highly personal and emotional piece to create. There is a lot of shame as I navigate this artistic territory. I rummaged through years of paperwork to find all the documents I wanted to use in this work. There was a reliving of these times all over again as I selected what I wanted for the piece.

The base layer is paper mached divorce documents from my first divorce. The fabric apron is sewn together and printed documents from my second divorce were transferred to fabric and sewn on.

My first husband was an alcoholic who disappeared on a regular basis and one night for good, leaving me to raise two babies alone.

My eventual second husband was chaotic and manipulative. As soon as I began to separate completely from him, he went ballistic and destroyed my art and property and legally threatened to take everything. The 4 year long high conflict divorce was painful as lie after lie and appeal after appeal were filed by him. The conflict was he felt he deserved everything that was mine, and I deserved nothing. No compromise.

A friend said to me as I told him all the news about my separation, “He always seemed like a narcissist/sociopath to me” Hearing this was an awakening of what I had been subjected to all those years together. The relationship bound my identity for some time.

The bind and constrains of the relationships themselves and the aftermath to clean up was inspiration to include it in the series.