2016

Just breathe…

Inhale the Future

Exhale the Past

Can you really judge a book by its cover? Just as the pages of a suspenseful plot keep us gripping the edge, so is life. We can skim back through the previous chapters of our existence and pray we learn from our past, but what awaits on the next page? “Inhale the Future, Exhale the Past” is a novel invitation to explore the very present you exist in, the choice that hangs between the was and the will be. Someone once said the best way to predict the future is to create it. We are not defined by our past, only prepared by it. What is breathing through the sentence you’re writing, right now? Suffocating fears or breathtaking dreams?

“You can read her like a book,” or can you? What would happen if you could read the hidden pages of the manipulated thoughts and feelings human trafficking victims live with daily? Those endless chapters of mental and emotional grooming resulting in tragic stories of force, fraud and coercion. “Inhale the Future, Exhale the Past” also poses a series of silent questions about the transition from victim to survivor and beyond. The process involves so much more than merely physically removing a victim out of a dangerous situation. To truly be free a transformation must happen inside - in one’s thoughts, beliefs and emotions. A new story must be written in one’s mind and heart, replacing those suffocating fears with truly breathtaking dreams. Choice in the present moment gives the power to change our future and heal from our past.

This dueling diptych was constructed out of discarded old hardcover books (given a new life) on wooden armatures. Copper ribbon (a conduit like neurons) and book pages (life stories) were carefully adhered to the book covers, followed by details painted with acrylics and pen. Every aspect was specifically selected and arranged. Each book was especially chosen for its title and meticulously positioned with its counterparts to create a thought-provoking found poem.

The whimsically painted character (on the left) represents the victim imprisoned by insecurities, frustrations, and fears - her own and those inflicted on her. Her name, Melondy, was derived from the word melancholy, and her striped wardrobe is reminiscent of a prisoner’s garments. Consequently Melody (on the right), minus the “n,” is liberated from the negativity of her bondage and emerges with joy and resiliency in her heart even amidst life’s uncertain future twists and turns.

Just as one breathes on a moment by moment basis, so every little choice has or had a significant impact on where we came from and where we are going. It is my desire that viewers of my work will take this present moment to stop and think, to consider the narrative they are currently writing. Are they merely dreaming in fairy tales, or speaking that dream into a new beautiful reality.

Inhale The Future, Exhale The Past

2016

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