‘Connections and Distance’

This art work stemmed from the desire for connection as a reaction to to distance. Humans use eyes to connect to each other, the eyes see, remember, project what they want to see in others. There is a history present in each person’s eyes, especially elderly people. The painting came to be because of the poem on the previous page. The poem is about heartbreak so deep the individual looses themself.   I used absurd proportions inspired by Salvidor Dali’s, ‘The Persistence of Memory’.

Each eye that is placed on each vertibray portrays each love she has encountered, the memory of them stays with her spine. ‘the body keeps the score’  by Bessel A van der Kolk, unravels trauma and how it can be stored in the body over a period of time. The book had an impact on me, it lead me to many realisations with how the  emotions  body and brain are interwoven. The landscape was painted first. Them the women figure, eyes last. The eyes cornea, pupil, ect. Are of direct color and texture match to the environment. She becomes the sand, sky,  sea and rocks. This idea came from the work with Cath & Kelley on the Neutral Mask journey through the different environments for example the forest, sand and mountain.  The painting is open and strange, so to let the imagination run free for the spectator. This duality of natural and artificial themes, became a reoccurring theme in my process moving forward. I used acrylic paint and it took 6 hours to complete this painting.

Does it matter if today wasn’t the same as yesterday? Ocean replies ‘it never is’. She looks around. Finding she is indeed lost at sea. Departure seems many moons ago, yet she relives this loss like a loyal dog. Although carrying this is a burden, she holds. Ocean sees this struggle, but does not waver, instead watches from a far as she makes her own footsteps in the sand. She settles by a rock. Here feet burrow in the warm golden sand, comfortably hidden from the real world, she watched the ocean. A double exodus. Two broken hearts. She has 8 eyes for seeing, soaking, learning, being, opening, crying, laughing, seeking, believing. She looks up at the sky growing the biggest eye as she realises her soul is both outward and inward.