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Unwithered

While the exposure of one’s heart in one’s art is normally a rather daunting affair, it is particularly unnerving to share something that leans towards the abstract.

Realistic art is generally easier to appreciate than art that pushes the boundaries of what makes visual sense. To see a rose that grows out of an arm, or to see veins curling around a figure, challenges the mind.

For many it is hard to accept that something uncomfortably unusual – that may even be labelled ‘ugly’ – is actually beautiful, because it’s truthful.

Wire and aluminium
sculpture on rock
with painted highlights

Approximate size:
H: 70cm x W: 40cm x D: 30cm
8kg

I found it on one of my favourite mountains in the Grampians range: a rock in the shape of Africa, waiting for me to pick it up on Mount Abrupt.

It was a heavy descent, but well worth it as I knew that this rock would somehow grace me with a meaningful metaphor in my creative process.

An uncompleted sculpture waited at home. A convoluted mesh of intertwining wire resembled my take on the uncertainty and complexity of the covid-year that had turned life upside-down. I wasn’t sure what I was making; I just felt the need to be ‘real’ - and ‘real’ wasn’t being ‘pretty’ or ‘pleasing’ or ‘precise’; it was being ‘vague’ and ‘boldly unrefined’.

As expected, the inclusion of ‘Africa’ as the base of my sculpture, birthed meaning to what it was that I was working on.

Beauty has a way of forcing itself to the surface, even through layers of hardship. Think of the first sprouts of green after the devastation of a bush fire. Or the new appreciation of the simple things in life after fighting a long battle with health. Or seeing that the sun does indeed rise and set in its same glory, even after the passing of a loved one.

The hardship that I experienced in South Africa is nothing compared to what so many have had to, and still has to, endure. Yet, while I lived a life of privilege, there were some things that pierced me to the point where I felt compelled to look for a different future for my daughters. Still, the life we lived in Africa, despite its challenges, was a glorious rose with a sweet fragrance.

‘Unwithered’ is a depiction of the beauty and hope that may be ours, despite adversity. This is not something that is handed to us, like a cut rose. Instead, it comes from within us, like the life-giving veins that run through us. It’s a conscious decision that we make to choose hope.

"Hope itself is like a star - not to be seen in the sunshine of prosperity, and only to be discovered in the night of adversity."

- Charles H Spurgeon

"Every pain behind my vein, has its own story."

- The_untold_writer

"He set my feet upon a rock and gave me a firm place to stand."

- Psalm 40:2