WORK DURING 2020 LOCKDOWN
As I spend most of the day in the studio, I have taken this opportunity to experiment and dive into new bodies of work. Last year I created a painting called "Self Love". With this painting in mind, I began a new series this year titled “Self Care”.
Currently, I have over 50 Self Care topics on my wall. This visual map has spread across my largest studio wall. What does Self Acceptance look like? How does Self Clarity show itself in visual form? What would Self Humor and Self Imagination talk about at the dinner table?
Coincidentally, after a month of working on this series, COVID-19 started to spread and is currently taking over globally. The theme of self care feels not only relevant, but urgently important.
I have been working on figurative drawings and letter collages. Thematically they overlap, but the approach for each group of works is very different. The figurative works require research, finding and developing reference images and a merging of different mediums. The letters require a slower and repetitive action which often becomes a therapeutic and meditative process for me.
As COVID-19 spreads a disease, it is also spreading fear, anxiety and uncertainty and the theme of Self Care has become a positive and comforting outlet. This is a time when we need Self Compassion, Self Faith and Self Generosity the most.
As I was flying back to the US from Europe after visiting family in January, I heard the stewardess saying; “Always adjust your own oxygen mask first, before helping the person next to you.” This is a time when each one of us needs to adjust our Self Humanity before we can extend it to others