| Mattie Oline: Thoughts of a Grandmother [Scroll horizontally to view images and vertically to read text.] |
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| This project is a tribute to Chambers' grandmother, Mattie Oline [Battles] Meekins
(1899-1997). She kept a diary from 1948 through part of 1993. Chambers researched her entries over the years, and chose the ones above that have significance for him and society. His
grandmother rarely missed making a daily entry in her diary during 45-plus years - an astonishing 16,000-plus entries. Chambers was born in July of 1947, so her diaries were ongoing from
when he was about six-months old through the age of 45. The entries are practical, heartfelt and country-bred. In the early 1900s, she moved with her family from Alabama to
Texas in a covered wagon. Later, she got married to Willie Meekins, and raised a family of five in Hynds City, a small country village eight miles north of Nocona. There are three basic reasons for making entries in a diary: the first is to record what has transpired; the second is to make notes on future activities/events; and the third is for the entries to be kept with other diary entries to become a personal history. Chambers considers his grandmother's collection of 46 diaries a personal history including family and friends with occasional comments/reactions to societal events. Each entry above has an annotation to instruct the reader, and provide enlightenment. The page curl per piece indicates the passage of time. Chambers' grandmother's actual handwriting for the entry is used as a backdrop to provide an immediacy ... connection ... with Mattie Oline. The photographs below show Chambers' grandmother at different periods in time. He hopes that his grandmother would understand why he has chosen to go public with some of her diary entries: to pay tribute to an individual who helped raise him; and to indicate his sense of longing for her presence. This project is in progress as Chambers continues to make the diary entry pieces for exhibition. The pieces for physical exhibition will be 30X20 inches. |
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