12-15-21
It’s done! Over a year ago I started working on a piece that would help me understand the balance of masculine and feminine energies as they manifest through my body, heart, mind and spirit. This took me on an epic hero’s journey through the world of gender identity, personal blind spots, and cultural biases. It also took me through about 50 variations on this image until I arrived at the perfect balance and knew it was done.
The primary image is a picture I had a friend take of me with my phone at Burning Man in 2014. It was a peak moment during that burn when I felt the more internally aligned, congruent, empowered, and alive than ever before. I’ve always kept the photo around as a reminder of who I am.
I then integrated the character Holly Golightly from Breakfast at Tiffany’s as a representation of my feminine essence. I chose this character not because I admire her, she’s a disaster. I chose her because she accurately represents the elusive, enticing, ever present and always hiding aspect of my feminine essence.
Much like the male hero in the movie, I’m always trying to catch her and she’s constantly slipping away. Another reason is that in 1998 I did a series of artwork inspired by her character. My interest in her didn’t make sense to me at the time. I just went with it. But in retrospect I now clearly understand.
The final element is the white picket fence nearly hidden in the background. I did a lot of art work with picket fences in the late 90s and I am starting to work with the symbol again. It felt appropriate to merge these two themes from my ancient past as they are now becoming the foundation of my emerging body of work. Take a moment to reflect on the cultural significance of the white picket fence… So, journey complete, new chapter starting! As that asshole Hannibal on the TV show the A-Team loved to say at the end of every episode. “I love it when a plan comes together!”
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