March 2011, Rogue Festival
I exhibited this series at City Arts Gallery during the Rogue Festival in 2011.
The "Death, Birth, and Identity" series evolved from personal experiences during 2009 and 2010. At the end of October in 2009, I left Japan. I packed up seven years of my life into two suitcases and a box. What couldn't fit is gone forever.
The days spent rumaging through all I had collected over the last seven years and deciding what to keep became a purification: a process of letting go, cleansing the soul, and moving on.
I learned through this experience that life comes to me in cycles. Parts of me die off leaving room for regrowth. Each cycle defines who I am.
There are 5 canvas works in the "Death, Birth and Identity" series:
Transformation, Awake, As The Heart Beats, Anthesis, and Gloaming. (From left to right in the above photo)
"Transformation" is the beginning, the rebuilding stage. It is the moments where I sit quietly, exhausted from the pain of letting go. There is an emptiness, a void. Not in a hopeless way, but more like land that has been tilled. It's a fresh beginning.
"Awake" is questioning, choosing, and planning.
"As The Heart Beats" is finally taking that leap into the future.
"Anthesis" is the bloom of the choices I've made.
"Gloaming" is the end of the cycle. This poem I wrote expresses how I feel about this last stage.
Even in absolute darkness, light exists. The saddest day has a glimmer of hope. Each drop of rain has sunshine. Time continues to move. Nothing is permanent.
The "Death, Birth, and Identity" series evolved from personal experiences during 2009 and 2010. At the end of October in 2009, I left Japan. I packed up seven years of my life into two suitcases and a box. What couldn't fit is gone forever.
The days spent rumaging through all I had collected over the last seven years and deciding what to keep became a purification: a process of letting go, cleansing the soul, and moving on.
I learned through this experience that life comes to me in cycles. Parts of me die off leaving room for regrowth. Each cycle defines who I am.
There are 5 canvas works in the "Death, Birth and Identity" series:
Transformation, Awake, As The Heart Beats, Anthesis, and Gloaming. (From left to right in the above photo)
"Transformation" is the beginning, the rebuilding stage. It is the moments where I sit quietly, exhausted from the pain of letting go. There is an emptiness, a void. Not in a hopeless way, but more like land that has been tilled. It's a fresh beginning.
"Awake" is questioning, choosing, and planning.
"As The Heart Beats" is finally taking that leap into the future.
"Anthesis" is the bloom of the choices I've made.
"Gloaming" is the end of the cycle. This poem I wrote expresses how I feel about this last stage.
Even in absolute darkness, light exists. The saddest day has a glimmer of hope. Each drop of rain has sunshine. Time continues to move. Nothing is permanent.
