"While caring for two simultaneously ailing grandparents in her Chicago home, Bibbs chronicled the periods before and after their deaths in weavings that incorporate objects from their lives. Just as one might pick up a pencil and paper to write through the difficult and overwhelming feelings of losing a loved one, she instead incorporated their clothing and beloved objects into her work, directly confronting the materials that once filled their days by interlacing them with threads and fabrics."
"We first contacted Bryana last year about an upcoming exhibition we were working on in Milwaukee that would explore issues surrounding mental health and, more broadly, the wellness of society. In one of our conversations about her work, she mentioned that "no one knows all it takes" to care for loved ones in their final days. The phrase instantly encapsulated our feelings about the show, and No One Knows All It Takes opened late this summer at the Haggerty Museum of Art."
Bryana Bibbs created the Journal Series by weaving clothing and personal objects from two ailing grandparents into textile works that chronicle the periods before and after their deaths. The practice foregrounds caregiving, memory, and nostalgia while using material intimacy to confront loss and overwhelming feelings. The iterative weavings function as both memorial and catharsis, transforming everyday garments and beloved items into interlaced layers of thread and fabric. These works have appeared in exhibitions at the Chicago Cultural Center, the Lubeznik Center for the Arts, and the Haggerty Museum of Art, where the phrase "no one knows all it takes" was used to reflect the labor of end-of-life care.
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