Misery and Art

Are art and misery intertwined? Can you create art without being miserable? Absolutely. Can you create art when you are miserable? Absolutely. And sometimes for me the art is better. I certainly seem to be inspired more, more ideas occur than at any other time and often they have more power.

When my much loved Aunt Robyn died several years ago (a week or so before my wedding), I travelled down to home town Invercargill for her funeral. The experience awakened unhealed memories of my own mothers funeral and my heart ached for Robyn's two teenage children. When I returned home I created the above painting - six small canvases now joined together representing my journey to Robyns funeral and my farewell to her. The piece incorporates small mementoes of the trip (her picture from the memorial sheet, parts of my plane tickets) as well as images (the arch, the folded hands, the balloon) collected through observation. The piece is one of my favourites and marks my own exploration of new textures and media in my work.

Being able to express through the creative process the myriad of feelings that had so overwhelmed me at the time was quite healing. It didn't stop me being miserable that I had lost my aunt but it allowed me outlet for my sadness and a way of 'thinking' it through.

This was not a new idea for me, I'd felt this before with art work. Even from teenage years, whenever I have had conflict in my life creating art work was often my response. But it was the first time I has quite deliberately drawn on a personal experience in a very literal way and with fair success in both process and product.