Prayer Cloths

For ten years Minnesota artist Sonja Olson has been building a body of artwork for a fictional character—Buelah Reidun Kelbison, a Midwestern farm woman and midwife. The project began with recurring dreams Olson had of a character working through layers of grief. Beulah's life is witnessed through artifacts: a book of hours, a birthing chair, an examination/funeral/dissection table, an obituary, an altar, prayer cloths. Olson's intention is that these objects be seen not solely as artworks but as remnants of a life. Olson's explorations of Luke's Gospel continually surface, providing commentary on the project.

—Lil Copan