Mary Jane Bellis

Mary Jane Young Bellis 

19 April 1923 – August 1978

Mary Jane Bellis was my maternal grandmother. She was killed in a car accident in 1978 and I never had the chance to meet her her. In my history of design class our first major project is to research a relative we did not have a relationship with and to create a project based on their life.

Through my mom and my aunts, I have access to an overwhelming amount of information such as: photos, diary, letters, ephemera, memories. Considering the assignment is almost entirely free of constraints, I had a difficult time figuring out how to translate the information about Mary into a single piece.

She died in a car accident in northern Montana...so I found that spot on Google Maps and checked out the street view. It was chilling to be looking at this place after 35 years, knowing how it had shaped the history of my family, but it led me to the solution of making a shrine. 

 

The shrine itself will be a physical piece, decorated in a tradition manner with flowers, photographs, her favorite foods and alcohol, and letters. But, behind the shrine, on the wall, I want to project screen shots of the spot where the car accident was. Yes, it will be a bit dark and sad, but I am also hoping to evoke a surreal slightly mystical feeling because I think that's what roadside shrines do. They are intensely personal -- but at the same time public and universal. 

Hopefully all goes well. I'm prototyped and ready to make the structure of the shrine on the laser cutter!