Exhibition Guide
three the long way (every shot, every failure, still leading with love)
Art Object Info
The Artist’s Eulogy for his Grandmother
Lois Martha Lewis (grandma)
August 13th, 1931–September 18th, 2022
Thank you, I miss making you laugh
We are the summation of generations of love, laughter, happiness, heartache, pain and love. I am a direct connector of two families from east and west baltimore who’ve experienced great joy and great loss. I feel like in the short time I’ve been here, I’ve been present and conscious for much of this not realizing the fullness of grief. Grief as many of you may know can be triggered by a smell, color, or sound, etc.
It is limitless, but as human beings we are often forced to keep up mask after mask. Realistically its impossible. So I stand here today with my sister and family and friends, saying to you that I shall stand in the fullness of this grief. No it shall not cripple me, no it won’t all hit me at the same time, no I am not ok, nor do I expect to be ever really because its something that stays with you and I am no longer interested in trying to be “tough” trying to hide behind this facade of its going to be ok.
I will instead do this, celebrate my grandma in knowing she no longer has to deal with the humanness of the world, that she no longer feels pain, that she is freed of every ism you can think of. I will celebrate her in knowing that she was our rock (no pun intended to my uncle) she was our leader, she was quick to cuss and had a favorite word at least in my opinion but she was also quick to pray. I will remember her most recent birthday, where my mom told me to go see her. I will remember us talking, really me listening and watching some movie with 50 cent in it. I will remember walking to the soup kitchen with here in all white, I will remember the beating I got for talking back to her, no my grandma didn’t beat my mom sure did lol. I will remember that no matter what she would ask about it me and check in, it didn’t matter where I was, she just wanted to make sure I was good. I will remember kissing her on the check and saying I love you. Honestly above all I will remember that she was my grandma, my protector when I was little, who’s floor I would lay on after school, who cooked chit lings and had the whole house smelling.
I will celebrate and remember that though my grandma wasn’t perfect (no one is) she cared and though it came out in a lot of different ways, she cared.
I don’t know what it was like for a woman born in the 1930s in a small town of Virginia, (could you imagine, I cant and really don’t want to) but I do know that all my life my grandma was there, that her home was the landing spot for my family and that each and every person that ever came in contact knew she about that business but had so much love that could be seen in her smile. My grandma Lois Lewis, I love you and shall always love you and celebrate you.
—Charles Mason III
three the long way (every shot, every failure, still leading with love)
The Artist’s Eulogy for his Grandmother
Lois Martha Lewis (grandma)
August 13th, 1931–September 18th, 2022
Thank you, I miss making you laugh
We are the summation of generations of love, laughter, happiness, heartache, pain and love. I am a direct connector of two families from east and west baltimore who’ve experienced great joy and great loss. I feel like in the short time I’ve been here, I’ve been present and conscious for much of this not realizing the fullness of grief. Grief as many of you may know can be triggered by a smell, color, or sound, etc.
It is limitless, but as human beings we are often forced to keep up mask after mask. Realistically its impossible. So I stand here today with my sister and family and friends, saying to you that I shall stand in the fullness of this grief. No it shall not cripple me, no it won’t all hit me at the same time, no I am not ok, nor do I expect to be ever really because its something that stays with you and I am no longer interested in trying to be “tough” trying to hide behind this facade of its going to be ok.
I will instead do this, celebrate my grandma in knowing she no longer has to deal with the humanness of the world, that she no longer feels pain, that she is freed of every ism you can think of. I will celebrate her in knowing that she was our rock (no pun intended to my uncle) she was our leader, she was quick to cuss and had a favorite word at least in my opinion but she was also quick to pray. I will remember her most recent birthday, where my mom told me to go see her. I will remember us talking, really me listening and watching some movie with 50 cent in it. I will remember walking to the soup kitchen with here in all white, I will remember the beating I got for talking back to her, no my grandma didn’t beat my mom sure did lol. I will remember that no matter what she would ask about it me and check in, it didn’t matter where I was, she just wanted to make sure I was good. I will remember kissing her on the check and saying I love you. Honestly above all I will remember that she was my grandma, my protector when I was little, who’s floor I would lay on after school, who cooked chit lings and had the whole house smelling.
I will celebrate and remember that though my grandma wasn’t perfect (no one is) she cared and though it came out in a lot of different ways, she cared.
I don’t know what it was like for a woman born in the 1930s in a small town of Virginia, (could you imagine, I cant and really don’t want to) but I do know that all my life my grandma was there, that her home was the landing spot for my family and that each and every person that ever came in contact knew she about that business but had so much love that could be seen in her smile. My grandma Lois Lewis, I love you and shall always love you and celebrate you.
—Charles Mason III