Back & Forth Between The Worlds
Back and forth. Up and down. In and out. I cherish my capacity to be multi-faceted and flexible. I love the improvisation and creativity that comes with this practice. Perhaps it is just me asserting my right to be paradoxical especially as a woman. I love this dance with the non-dualistic. And, this dance has given my many opportunities and privileges. I have had the great joy of living and teaching in the Netherlands for many years. And there, they have a fine old tradition of face-painting which they call Shmink. I once met a woman in Limburg at a colourful summer street fair who had painted her own face to look like a face looking in another direction. It was clever and eerie and a bit disturbing even. This image never left me and the portrait I had taken of her hung out in my studio for a good decade. My fascination was to do with the visual embodiment of duality. I know so well the feeling of being a part of two very different realities at the same time. Here, I explore both the harmony and the discord that result. Mostly I enjoy the access between the worlds and the freedom that it affords me.
“The Celtic cross never focused on the death of Christ, but on the capacity to go back and forth between the worlds.”
