By the Time You Cut Teeth You Are Already Ancient
By the Time You Cut Teeth You Are Already Ancient: A meta-genealogical investigation/spiritual quest/cautionary tale
As of 2019, 29 million people have had their DNA tested. By the Time You Cut Teeth You Are Already Ancient is, in part, a meta-genealogical investigation that contemplates the psycho-socio-political implications of this phenomenon and serves as a meditation on the wonder and absurdity of the ways the cellular constitution of one’s spit — a body fluid most abject — can, not only serve as a portal to other times and places, but stimulate new narratives which alter subjective perceptions of self.
National lore and mythology originating in one’s ancestral stomping grounds can inform the perceived purpose of one’s life, as “the self,” in identification and sympathy with one’s ancestors permeates boundaries of time and space. What happens when a substantial portion of the population suddenly discovers heroes, barbarians, princes, paupers, and sworn enemies sitting on the same branch of the family tree? How will the past inform the future?
No Different Moments, 2018/2019, graphite on Arches, 8 1/2 feet x 4 1/2 feet
Cornelius Commenced a Clearing, (to be reworked) 2020, graphite on Arches, 8 1/2 feet x 4 1/2 feet
Saving Salvo, graphite on Arches, 4'X8', 2019
Otzi (to be reworked) 2020, graphite on Arches, 4 1/2 feet by 8 1/2 feet
From the Vents and Seeps, 2019, mixed media on Arches, 22"X30"
Grandmother Jesus, 2020, mixed media on Arches, 22"X30"
Ichor Clot, 2020, mixed media on Arches, 22"X30"
Crypto Colleen, 2019, mixed media on Arches, 22"X30"
The King is I, 2018, graphite on Arches, 18"X24"
Lot's Wife, 2018, graphite on Arches, 22"X30"
Lot's Wife, detail, 2018, graphite on Arches, 22 1/2"X30'
All at Once
While traveling in Ireland,
I saw the Cliffs of Moher.
I saw Killarney Lakes so blue.
I kissed the feet of Oscar Wilde and
donned his holey t-shirt.
I saw my mother
although I knew it was my father.
She was alive.
She was floating in the Liffey.
I saw my husband beheaded.
I raised an aqua vitae and swallowed a star.
I searched, and became, a dress of saffron.
It hid my child - no dress - a saint was he!
But off the cliff we were pushed willy
nilly.
I hung with pirates.
They left me their name.
(And I’ve been hanging ever since.)
I’m back in Prussia.
It is Pennsylvania.
We Neanderthals
will see
what we saw in 1972.
MDM 2018
Through a multi-disciplinary art practice as device for the compression of time, I hope to squish out pottery shards, striations on kerf walls, circuitry, breath...
Copyright © 2025 Maria Driscoll McMahon - All Rights Reserved.
NO AI, camera obscura, or assistive technologies are used in the creation of any drawings, paintings, sculpture, or writing.
Videos and animations of my artwork are created using a combination of old-school stop-motion techniques together with the Adobe Creative Suite.