All Photos By Gail

In Beth Lipman’s Margin For Error (2014) an infant Crib and an adult Cradle are oriented to evoke the universal journey from birth to death. The crib tilts downward, sinking slowly into the floor, propelling its inhabitant toward childhood, adolescence, adulthood, and old age, at which point the cradle awaits occupation.

Modeled after Shaker forms for rocking the ill or those near death, the cradle represents the inevitable mortality we all face. The softness of the ethereal cast glass mirrors the sensitivity and care inherent in the act of rocking the dying; something which is usually reserved for comforting infants.

Photographed in the Museum of Arts and Design in Manhattan.