Aebleskiver, Nisse, Julejerhter. These are just a few parts of my Danish heritage that still shone brightly in my childhood home as a third generation American. My great grandfather, a baker continuing a 250 year tradition at the Petersen family home in Tønder, brought his baking and his life to the States. My grandparents, the first of their respective siblings to be born in the States, would dress up in Danish Tract and attend Danish folk dances. For the past thirty years these peasant-like costumes were stored in a box and tucked away, for what else can be done with them?

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When they were pulled out of the box a year ago, my husband and I played dress up and took pictures, and then gently tucked them, with all the beautiful handmade lace and embroidery, back away again. But these meant too much to me to tuck away for another thirty years. And that's when the inspiration came to life.  This dress had a story to tell, my ancestors' story, my story, and as a painting it can now be seen and a part of our every day home and life. When visitors see the work, I am able to share with them the stories of what these things mean to me today.

 

I selected a wheat field as the background as classic Danish landscape and an essential grain to a baker, and I carry a piece of wheat like engraved on my great grandfather's gravestone. The figure (me) is looking backwards into the space where she came from and reflects on how she, like her great grandparents, became an immigrant, too.

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What stories do your heritage costume tell?

What memories come to life when you touch it?

It would be an honor to collaborate with you to preserve your own story.