Chekhov’s Gun
I need to remember where this all began with stories of indigo and grief, finding a way to myself through loss and death. This past year has been a long, winding hike through a dark and sometimes confusing forest of drawing, foraging, paper making and mushrooms. Like Chekhov’s gun, it’s time to reintroduce those early, significant hints to what is later to become my work or get rid of them once and for all. Indigo, grief, places. Foreshadowing in my work is important and circling back time and again to those moments in the past when I did something, noted something down or stopped for a moment and considered a different way. An early tutorial with Jonathan here referenced the practice of circling back and learning about foreshadowing, sifting through the rubble for useful clues. This week’s homework is to go right back to my first instagram posts, my first blog posts and my earliest paintings - particularly the odd ones jutting out awkwardly from the rest - looking for prophetic moments, bits of foundation, portents, hints and eventual visual equivalents of Chekhov’s guns.
Observations
Indigo - this seems to be where it all started
Grief - my work has moved from personal to a much more collective stance. I would like to return to the personal phenomenon of human grief
Ruination - the aesthetic I go to every time
Place - above and below ground perspectives
Drawing and painting - I am really enjoying my explorations in paper and clay but drawing and painting are my burning tears media