Reflecting on 2013

Well! It has been a ridiculously long time between posts!

2013 proved to be a pretty big year for me. There was a fair bit of artwork made, lots of research and even a few important exhibitions. And there were all the usual life challenges, but also a few unexpected health encounters.

So now I am in a slow process of recovery, renewal and reassessment.

So I thought it apt to look back at some work I created almost 18 months ago. It is a series of 7 screen-prints, one for each day of the week, entitled, A 365-day Conversation  (dies Lunae, dies Martis, dies Mercuri, dies Jovis, dies Veneris, dies Saturni, dies Solis).

It explores the conversations I have with myself as I undertake my daily routine in self-managing my chronic pain. Each day I stretch and strengthen, do hydrotherapy and handstands, and worry about as well as celebrate my life. Spending several hours a day ‘managing my condition’, has led me to turn pain management into an area of personal research, bordering on obsession and sometimes an art form. (For example, after 9 years, I can now even free balance a handstand!)

I have also been noticing how that certain headspace with a balance of concentration, thinking and creativity that is required for my art practice, feels like the same headspace as when I practicing my pain management. And sometimes it all works and flows beautifully and sometimes it doesn’t!

Practicing art and managing pain are both about a state of constant learning and unpredictable change. Ah!! Creativity!

Each of these screen-prints is approx. 17cm w x 17 cm h.

They were shown in August 2012 at the Collingwood Gallery in Melbourne, and later, in a MREAM exhibition in a pop up gallery at Big Fish in Footscray.