Finnegan Shannon

Mentally I'm Here 1–3, 2023

Mentally I’m Here 1–3

Installation view of a large panel outside a building showing m hand holding a needlepoint tissue box shaped like a bed. Quilt-like patterns, shiny brass bedposts, and a lace-trimmed pillow decorate the bed. Text reads: “Big Absence, Small Presence”.
A billboard installed in a large multi-paned window on the side of a building shows a needlepointed tissue box shaped like a house, held in my hand. My handwriting reads "Big Loss" and "Small Softness" with the exhibition's branding along the bottom.
An outdoor billboard mounted on the side of a building shows a photograph of a green and white cross stitched tissue box shaped like a couch, held up by a hand. The image is framed by handwritten text, "Big Depression" and "Small Pleasure"

  • About:
    Billboards of photographs of tissue box covers I made from vintage needlepoint kits shaped like a house, a bed, and a couch. They are framed with my handwriting with phrases, “Big absence, small presence”, “Big loss, small softness”, and “Big depression, small pleasure.”

    I worked on them during the early pandemic when having something small and structured to focus on helped me stay present. Tissue boxes are objects I return to when I am sick or sad, and these became soft, slightly silly stand-ins for care, comfort, and being held in place. I photographed the finished pieces in my apartment, often from bed, using what I had on hand. 

    Commissioned by CAFKA for Stay With Me.

  • Year: 2023

  • Materials: Billboards

  • Size: Dimensions variable

  • Photos by: Scott Lee