Ancestral Healing

Through her art, Donna assumes the persona of wise woman, healer, shaman, witch. In these roles she reclaims the power of the domestic space and her ancestral legacy. She descends from a line of healers. Engaging with concepts of labor, gender and desire, Donna Cleary's work questions perceived boundaries between instinct and cultural construct. Foucault's heterotopic spaces are given a platform in her photography, video, sculpture, performances and social practice. In a series of transformations as RN, Mother, Artist, Herbalist, Donna has grounded her art in the liminal spaces that hover between the past and present. "I see the wise woman... From her shoulders, a mantle of power flows. A story band encircles her forehead. She stitches a quilt; she spins fibers into yarn; she knits; she sews; she weaves. She ties the threads of our lives together..." Healing Wise, Susun S. Weed