Activist Art: Time to Grieve
Completed July 2009.
11"x14"; pen&ink on watercolor paper.
Most people are aware of the "five stages" of coping with an emotional loss: denial, bargaining, anger, despair, and acceptance. What is not generally well known is that you may go through these stages multiple times in multiple ways; and being aware that you are in a given stage is not sufficient to be able to move beyond it.
In other words, even if you know there's a light at the end of the tunnel, sometimes you need to stay in the dark for a little while longer before you can face the light. This is not only healthy, but necessary.
This piece started out as simply a portrait of despair. I was in a bad place at the time, dealing with a significant loss of physical function due to my car accident in 2008. As the piece progressed, though, I "saw" the light appear behind the grieving figure in the cave, and became aware that he knew it was there, but wasn't yet ready to move on. As it was with me: I needed to fully realize what I had lost and grieve for it before I could move on to build a new life.
Read my blog post about this piece.
Original is for sale. Contact the artist for more information.
Prints are available at my Redbubble site.
11"x14"; pen&ink on watercolor paper.
Most people are aware of the "five stages" of coping with an emotional loss: denial, bargaining, anger, despair, and acceptance. What is not generally well known is that you may go through these stages multiple times in multiple ways; and being aware that you are in a given stage is not sufficient to be able to move beyond it.
In other words, even if you know there's a light at the end of the tunnel, sometimes you need to stay in the dark for a little while longer before you can face the light. This is not only healthy, but necessary.
This piece started out as simply a portrait of despair. I was in a bad place at the time, dealing with a significant loss of physical function due to my car accident in 2008. As the piece progressed, though, I "saw" the light appear behind the grieving figure in the cave, and became aware that he knew it was there, but wasn't yet ready to move on. As it was with me: I needed to fully realize what I had lost and grieve for it before I could move on to build a new life.
Read my blog post about this piece.
Original is for sale. Contact the artist for more information.
Prints are available at my Redbubble site.