For me, the more I understand the story of others, the greater I am able to learn and help other people.

I write and I write and a lot of times I go back to the American lens, though sometimes it's a struggle to come from that perspective.

I met Mary [Hamill] in New York at my exhibition and when I told her about my oral history project she asked, "Would it be possible to incorporate visual art?" My sister stitches pillowcases, which led to Mary suggesting using cyanotype on them. I originally thought of the idea of pillowcases because when people get married, they have the bride and the groom lay their hands on each other's pillows while their relatives tie ribbons on their wrists. And then on the bed you usually have two pillows - one for yourself and one for your loved one - so when one is gone, one pillow remains.

The family I grew up in had three generations of widows.

When you're reading from a different language that's different from your own, it's not the same as being fluent.

Mary's [Hamill] working from an outsider perspective and I'm working from an insider-outside perspective. In this case, it will bring an added dimension to the visual aspects of the work. Also the processes and approaches that I'm thinking are about learning. I'm playing it by ear to experiment and see what happens.

This is my first collaboration [with Mary Hamill] so I'm going to learn how it's going to work.