In my paintings,
personal and cultural symbols arise
– possibly created from different cultures, languages and my own and global ancestral mythologies. We are all made of the same stuff, all that is different in each one of us is the perspective from which we are viewing and experiencing our existence. We are people born of culture – where each one of us is occupying a unique vantage point as we attempt life together.
Integration
I was doing family constellation work and I uncovered a lot of ancestral trauma. I realized that I had grown up with a Mother who was incredibly traumatized and that this trauma had been passed down to me generationally. Through painting this trauma and creating an object of beauty I managed to work through it and integrate it into my life. In this painting, the girl in the middle is sitting in a heart, propelled by music – but she’s still pure, she’s looking at past traumas but retains her purity. I thought of her both as myself the way I am now and my Mother as a child, before the trauma occurred – who perhaps retained her innocence even though horrid things were going on around her. Once all the components of the painting were there I just painted it to make it beautiful – I like looking at beautiful things. By creating an object of beauty from trauma I transformed it.
THE SHAMAN
I painted this painting when I had an injured leg and could not walk – I had to sit still for a few weeks and just painted and painted. This one sort of came to be by itself. I painted…and saw images – I didn’t know what I was doing with this painting and it just seemed to develop by itself. Within the painting the images revealed themselves to me – of course as they revealed themselves I gained an understanding of who they are and I feel that they’re a part of my mystical journey.
moon spaceship
This painting was a really big mess in the beginning – a really big mess. It’s very unlike what I would ever paint – completely not a style that I would recognize within myself…nor a recognizable subject matter. There are very childlike things in this painting – a car, a spaceship that you can climb down and up to. You can see two pairs of lovers – one is very rooted in the ground and the other one very much in space. This is a very playful painting and it’s telling a story. I don’t quite know the story yet…but it’s definitely telling a story. As I was sitting – I couldn’t stand – I was much more precise than I usually am with the brushstrokes – it was a completely different approach.
realistic family
A while ago someone challenged me to develop my paintings in a more ‘realistic’ way – and I thought ‘why not?’….as a change to what I usually do. I’ve never done one like this before. The focus that I used for this painting is very different than all the other paintings – now that I’ve finished it I haven’t a clue how I had that focus! In painting the figures I was inspired by photos for some of them – others just came to me. This painting – for me – tells a very personal story
cosmic couple
This painting is very simple. I had a short romance with some amazing moments in it that inspired me to paint – actually, this romance is what got me to start painting again after a while of not painting. I enjoyed very much working on it – for me, it shows the beauty of life - the chaos and colour and complexity of love.