Life Preserver (Child’s Size)

by Megan Vossler

Through seemingly simple forms, Megan Vossler’s most recent body of work contemplates the contradictory power of water. It connects, transports, carries, submerges, and drowns. It cleans, dilutes, and erodes. Growing up on the California coast, her favorite time to visit the ocean was during a storm, when the water was at its most unsettled. She would watch the surface contort and erupt as she looked for glimpses of what was underneath.

A child’s life preserver in heavy bronze, immediately conjures images of sinking. Ocean passageways sometimes shepherd and sometimes erase the migrant populations that look to them for hope.