Death and Creation

I lost my grandmother in September 2019 and created the best art I’ve ever made in my life. I developed a series called In the Mourning. It’s an obvious play on the words “morning” and “mourning.” I was grieving, and my grandmother used to call me every morning. Now that she’s gone, I don’t get that daily call anymore.

This series helped me cope with her death. Staying busy with my work, while trying not to dwell on the loss, fueled my imagination with beautiful images and abstract paintings.

We all have different ways of dealing with death. Art was mine.

It’s Christmas Day, and I finally worked up the courage to write this blog post. I meant to write it months ago, but I couldn’t. It was too soon—too fresh. It still is. And on Christmas, of all days. But I felt her presence and knew it was time.

I had been gone for a while, but I’m back now. It will still take time to heal, but overall, I’m finding my way back. Her gift to me was her constant encouragement to never give up, so I won’t.

My gift to her, even though she can’t physically see it, is my exhibition In the Mourning, dedicated to her.

This series will include moving images, still photography, voice recordings, and digital paintings. Coming January 2020. A preview of the series is below.