These expressive ink drawings speak of the visceral resonance of history in the present through intergenerational memory. I make photographic studies of local roses and respond to them in my studio. As I engage with these small remembrances, they begin to appear as plumes of bombs seen from above. Sometimes they seem like glimpses of landscape through a break in the clouds. I also imagine them as broken voices or wounds; and then, because of the sheen of the ink, they become watermarks of grief, as if tears are breaking up and opening up the dark. While making these rose portraits I feel grounded; they become touchstones linking my present to my past. Our ancestral inheritances, although painful and complex are nevertheless the realities from which we may emerge through the transformative presence of beauty and compassion.
Here is a video artist’s talk about the work ( 5 minutes). With thanks to Efren Quiroz of Exhibit-V
A Complex Grief was shown at the exhibition Interworld at Arc.hive Artist Run Centre May 3rd to 12th, 2019.
Cornelia van Voorst 