I Survived You (2020-2021) is a wood and neon sculpture housed within a commercial shipping crate by artist Suzy Kellems Dominik. The outside of the box is charred and blackened, rendered by the Japanese technique "shou sugi ban" which both conserves the wood, waterproofs it, and renders it smoldered. Amidst the blackened exterior, the viewer will catch glimpses of luminous neon light and color escaping from a series of holes arranged in the constellation of Scorpio across the surface of the structure — viewing holes — calling one to approach the sculpture to investigate what resides within.

Suzy Kellems Dominik, I Survived You, 2020-2021. Wooden crate with neon mechanism. 53.25 H x 26.5 W x 14.75 D inches. Animated GIF courtesy of the artist.

The work interrogates, at the most fundamental level, the experience of unpacking the shadow of her childhood. It interrogates themes of container and shelter. It is about memory — individual and collective — singed into the human consciousness. One’s origin story scored into flesh. Yet the sculpture and its accompanying poem invite intimacy, renewal, curiosity, trust. Like a geological process, one may be compressed, condensed, smothered, and pressurized and yet further observation reveals the triumphant soul within.