“Little Scarface” 2012
912˝ X 212” X 3˝
suminagashi, handmade abaca paper, methylcellulose, linen thread
“Little Scarface” is based on researching body adornment, the history of the moccasin, and the literary Native American legend, The Hidden One. The story is of a young girl, called “Little Scarface,” who after losing her mother is treated horribly by her two half sisters and soon becomes scarred and ugly. In the end her inner beauty wins the hand of the Hidden One, and all her scars are healed in the water of the river. In an effort to represent this story, I have made a single moccasin out of a hand–pulled sheet of abaca fiber paper. I chose to make only one in an effort to meld the common Anglo story of Cinderella with the Native American Indian story of “Little Scarface.” Using a Japanese marbling technique called suminagashi, I treated the surface of the moccasin with blue and green dyes to represent the earth and water that brought “Little Scarface” her freedom, and tendrils of black ink to represent the smoke and ash that had disfigured her in the first place.