Echo & Refrain
My grandfather died two years after I was born; time enough for him to form a bond with his first grandchild, and for me to question his sudden disappearance. I remember references to “Heaven" and “Angels" but they only intensified my feeling of desertion.
The loss remained as an unresolved part of my childhood. I searched for him and he was always there as a sound, a smell or a particular feature of the landscape but his physical self was washed from my memory.
This subconscious bereavement resurfaced in a series of dreams; and the resulting sixteen handmade screen prints of “Echo and Refrain” depict the memories of my infancy. It has taken me twenty years to complete this project. The process of cultivating angels and seeking heaven in the memory of my grandfather's countryside has been and still is a release and a joyous experience.
The loss remained as an unresolved part of my childhood. I searched for him and he was always there as a sound, a smell or a particular feature of the landscape but his physical self was washed from my memory.
This subconscious bereavement resurfaced in a series of dreams; and the resulting sixteen handmade screen prints of “Echo and Refrain” depict the memories of my infancy. It has taken me twenty years to complete this project. The process of cultivating angels and seeking heaven in the memory of my grandfather's countryside has been and still is a release and a joyous experience.
