DEEP WATER PART ONE
This collection of work centres around a powerful childhood memory. At around four years of age, I was playing on the balcony of a restaurant that my mum worked at. Playing happily, I suddenly slipped between a gap in the timber floor and fell into the river below. Falling from such height, I sank deep into the water. I have strong memories of sinking deeper and deeper and the water getting darker and darker, and stiller and stiller, until I hit the muddy bottom. I then remember a huge splash and seeing sparks of light spread through the water and something pulling me up by my hair. Hearing the boom of me hitting the water from the restaurant kitchen, my mum had run through the restaurant and dived off the balcony after. While elements of this memory are traumatic, I have always focused on the positive. The heroic action of my mum and the sense of being pulled from the depth. Therefore, hope, healing and new beginnings are a recurring theme in all six paintings.
Exploring this memory across these six paintings, I have expressed different elements of the memory in each painting and weaved in some Buddhist stories, ceremonies and concepts. The main idea being the four levels of the lotus used in Buddhist teachings as a symbol of the path to enlightenment. As the lotus sprouts in the mud and spends most of its life underwater before finally blooming on the surface, it is believed to symbolise the struggles we all go through in life and in the pursuit of enlightenment. Lotuses can be seen in all six paintings to represent this transformation and growth.
In this collection there are also a number of representations of me. The innocent childlike face with hair in buns, the rat, the falling figure and the monkey, each represent a different element of my life, spiritual journey and personality. I feel like there is lots more to process about this memory, which is what I called this show, Deep Water Part One.
Micro Plastic Island
In this painting I have used the story, Phra Mahajanaka Jataka, which is an epic story of family betrayal and a fight for the throne. At one point in the story, the wronged prince Phra Mahachankrot is the only survivor of a shipwreck and has to swim for seven days and seven nights. During this time he is exhausted and close to death and has many hallucinations. He is not sure what is real and what is an illusion, so when the goddess of the sea, Manimekhala appears he is not sure if she is real or not. He finally decides, real or not, she is his only hope and he follows her to safety (as seen in the top right corner).
I have linked this story to my near drowning memory and being rescued by my mum. This story has also always reminded me of the journey many refugees have had to make throughout history. With so little options, of course refugees will try anything to find safety. And yet governments punish them for not arriving via the ‘correct’ ways, instead, coming by boat only to be locked up on remote islands, such as Christmas Island. This is represented by all the small Christmas trees in the painting.
The title of the painting refers to the millions of micro plastics that end up in our oceans due to the obscene amount of plastic production, use and waste. Most people claim to love the ocean and consider it a calm and healing place, yet we fill it with rubbish and chemicals.
Overall, the painting deals with the number of small, micro problems we create for ourselves, individually and globally. Referring back to the Phra Mahajanaka Jataka story, the painting is also a reminder to hear the warnings and accept help when it is offered.
Deep Sea Monkey
The dark monkey-like figure to the right of this image is me sitting on the dark muddy river bed, confused and directionless. The angel in the boat represents both my mum coming to save me and Manimekhala, who saved prince Phra Mahachankrot. The bright yellow and splashes of blue represent the moment the water came alive when my mum jumped in the river. The flower-like images floating on the water are Khathongs (floating baskets/vessels/boats), used in the Thai Loy Krathong festival to send away your bad luck or negative thoughts.
Loy Krathong
This painting continues to use the Thai Loy Krathong festival as source of inspiration and deals with the idea of being cleansed or relieved, new beginnings and rebirth. During the Loy Krathong festival, through ceremony and prayer, people place their bad luck and negative thoughts in a Krathong and put it in a river and let the water take it away. This can also be done with lanterns as seen in lantern festivals in the north of Thailand. Both Krathong and lanterns can be seen at the top of the painting. Also at the top, is a Japanese inspired sunset, symbolic of better times ahead. In the centre is the Tree of Life where Buddha sits and attains enlightenment. The blue sitting finger is another representation of the goddess of water and before her can be seen a large lotus birthing a head of Buddha.
Pull Me Up
This painting is inspired by the moment my mum managed to grab on to my hair and pull me up from the bottom of the river. The bound rat at the top section represents the inevitable human struggle and feelings of stress, anxiety and being restricted. The lotuses on the rat represent the need for growth, the need to let go, accept the process and accept help/relief when it comes. The yellow fire breathing dragon represents our tendency to become defensive and angry when we are struggling, scaring away offered of help. The blue figures embracing is a reminder that we all need love and care and to treat yourself and others with compassion.
When you fall, I will jump
This paint focuses on acts of kindness and the instinct in us all to help someone when they are in need. When we care for someone, we act without thinking. We jump to help them.
Handful (always)
This painting is in contrast to When You Fall, I Will Jump, and how people are so busy, distracted and disconnected from each other that many don’t reach out a helping hand to those that need it. In the centre though, the angel has wings on her arms and is trying to rise above it all. Her busy thoughts are emerging from her head and floating away like clouds.
The two flowers in the centre are from my mum’s batik sarong and share colours with the angel's wings.
