2018
Sacrum with Nest
When ideas for art come to me, I don’t usually try to figure them out. The “unconscious” is a mysterious well that I draw from often. Rich in personal symbolism, I trust this source of inspiration deep in my bones and follow it whenever I can. The meaning behind a piece usually doesn’t come to me until later, if at all.
After I made this photo, someone commented that it depicted the first chakra. Wow! I looked it up. The Sanskrit word is Muladhara, meaning root or support.
As I understand it, if my body is a house, the root chakra is the foundation on which everything else is based. It’s associated with security, safety, survival instincts, and basic needs like food, sleep, and shelter. It’s also associated with our physical identity.
This symbolism is not lost on me. In the past year, I’ve become more aware of what I perceive as the limitations or fragility of my body. I’m more careful. I pay more attention. That, in and of itself, is actually a good thing at any age.
But I’d also been blaming and cursing my body for betraying me after a simple fall, and my elbow for shattering into pieces.
Recently, I had a conversation with my elbow–yes, that actually happened. My left leg also got involved.
ME: What is your problem, Elbow? Why have you done this to me?
ELBOW: (in a heavy New Jersey accent) Hey! I’m healing here! What more do you want?! Fuggedaboutit! You wanna blame someone, blame your left foot for stumbling! Blame your left leg for not keeping you upright!
LEG: (in a dopey Philly accent, like Rocky) Hey, don’t blame me! Balance is the brain’s department.
While far from “perfect,” I’d forgotten to appreciate my body’s ability to heal.
Bird nests and bones are symbols that appear over and over again in my art. A few months ago, I found a bird nest with the skeletons of four baby birds, mouths wide open, ready to be fed. For me, this was a potent symbol of life and death, not as separate, but as one. Life feeds death feeds life feeds death.
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