"Turn me inside out so that my bones can save me..." a line from "My Name," by Lhasa on the album "The Living Road." Acrylic on paper, 12 by16 inches.
I enjoyed making this painting based on Edvard Munch's "Puberty," for two reasons. I "know" the posture and after the reconstruction and loosing quite some weight, I feel thrown back to the puberty-period of my life again. In the mirror I see a young girl's breasts, albeit with scars and no areola tattoos yet-it's quite poignant. In the shadow on the right I painted a skeleton with a colorful skull that bears my name. This type of skeleton is an important figure in the Mexican Day of the Dead tradition. Colorful sugar skulls bear the name of the deceased and marigolds attract the spirit of the deceased towards offerings of food and flowers prepared for him or her. In my imagination, the skeleton stands for my strength which is embedded in my bones and comes from former selves (from before or during the cancers) that have transformed or died in a sense. The marigold on the bed attracts that wisdom to me now and a new Ria is being born, I guess...It's a fragile image, that's why I painted myself with closed eyes, I don't own it yet.
2 comments:
Oh yes Munch is great, Lhasa de Sela; i love her music. And the two combined into your painting: i like it a lot.
Sweet greetz....
Hey Momo Luna, thanks for dropping by and leaving some feedback here and on Aggressed Body, which is still one of my own favorites. Lhasa has been/is a terrific companion through my cancers, her lyrics are amazing! I came over to visit your blogs, something tells me we could even speak Dutch with each other? Greetz!
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