KATHARINE BOYD
This incident, and others (another neighbor demanded to have a sundial in my mother’s backyard, saying it really belonged to them because it had been part of their property at the turn of the century–at least 70 years before either of them had bought), helped remind me of the malignant acquisitiveness, pettiness, and stupidity rampant throughout our culture but perhaps underlined in suburbia, where such issues as property lines, landscaping, septic systems, and cars all seem to be fodder for endless discussion, analysis, speculation, and confrontation.
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Superbia communicates a sense of urgency, of odd propriety (Boyd wears white gloves throughout), and of helplessness as Boyd lovingly touches each of her sacred objects, repeating sentences sometimes as many as six or seven times until the meaning is lost and all that remains is a sense of futility and absurdity.
