Balancing Meaning Series

This series began from a theatre prop I found in the streets of Barcelona in 2011. After removing a stuffed cloth that was nailed down to a board I found a beautiful oval shape marked by the tapestry nail holes.. I was pregnant at the time and painted the interior form of the ovular shape while being especially aware of living far from the family and culture I had been born into. I began repeatedly painting a projected copy of that ovular shape onto other found paintings while contemplating the immigration of an object into a new space. That process eventually lead to cutting up found paintings and creating this Balancing Meaning series of stacked stones.

This series explores the many layers of meaning I encounter in my daily life. The works reflect an awareness of environmental concerns while also serving as metaphors for the constant process of balancing, guiding, and nurturing that comes with motherhood. They speak to adaptation and the ways we respond, shift, and evolve in relation to our surroundings. At their core, the pieces explore the continual movement between origins and destinations, both physical and emotional, and the transformations that occur along the way.

The process of making these paintings becomes a form of meditation, a way to slow down, reflect, and create space for presence and balance. The paintings become a visual record of this internal process that connects me to the ongoing dialogue around mental health and how exploring creative practice can offer a space to process emotions or navigate change… or to simply feel what is needed in the moment.

The use of discarded materials speaks to resilience, reinvention and the capacity to transform what is discarded into something guiding. Representing cairn stones with paintings merges my act of creation with the act of journeying. These paintings remind me that our wellbeing can transforming depending on our environment.