The top portion of “The Curse” (Michelle Casey, Collage, July 2013)… veering away from the rectangular format this piece’s outer elements defines its shape.
These past couple of weeks, I’ve been working on a collage about my family curse. If you’ve been following my blog lately, you’ll know about this and the three miracles that rocked my world in June. I was just telling someone that the day I posted that blog, I was afraid some of you might think I was crazy for talking about this bizarre aspect of my life. But I took a chance on speaking my mind and happily it resonated with some of you. In fact, it’s the blog I’ve received the most comments on. I was touched by those who shared their own stories related to this theme and others who sent me positive thoughts and even freshly created poems from the heart. Thanks so much… they gave me both comfort and hope.
Our Great Family Divide…
You know, on both sides of my family there’s been such a rift between relatives. Some days I imagine our clans completely disintegrating and losing touch altogether because of the petty rivalries, jealousies, hatreds and our all-powerful ability to hold grudges against each other (for decades)! It’s interesting too that I found these traits were most prevalent amongst the female members of my families. I grew up an anomaly, wanting nothing to do with these shenanigans; wishing everyone would get along. For the better part of my life I was like a one-woman United Nations representative trying to hold us all together; I tried to open up the lines of communication and dispel the lies and hatred that existed among us. But it was a losing battle. In my 40’s I gave up and granted myself permission to concentrate on my own life for once.
Despite giving up on it, this family stuff still rattles around in my soul, so I thought it might be productive to channel this negative energy from my curse into something creative. This is what I love about art making it gives me a reason to speculate and use my imagination to explore the aspects of my life I don’t understand.
The bottom portion of “The Curse” (Michelle Casey, Collage, July 2013)… many pieces in this work are mounted on thick mixed media paper so they appear raised.
The Veiled Lady Denied Us a Home on the Subcontinent…
My collage, “The Curse” (shown in parts above), has two main characters this time: a young girl who purposefully gazes out at the viewer and an intriguing, bare-breasted, veiled woman with bold eye makeup. For me, the veiled lady echoes stereotypical notions of woman as exotic seductress/enchantress, evil stepmother and a dark Madonna-like figure… her veil echoes that of a nun’s habit as well. She’s my sinister representation of the East… the one who placed that ancient curse upon my family. Why you may ask? Well, because we were of mixed race – Eurasians who refused to give our loyalty to the people of India but gave it the British instead. Britain was the hand that fed us so to speak, so what could we do? This seemed a good enough reason for the curse to me. I’ve always felt guilty about this, but there’s nothing I could do given my place in history, that my ancestors chose to make this decision. And thus, the veiled lady denied us not only a home on the subcontinent of India but also within our own families. There was never a more tragic curse. I remember a close family friend telling me long ago that his sense of “home” lay with where his mother was, not any geographical location. Since his mother had died, he said he no longer had a sense of belonging or of home anywhere. Taking it to the extreme I imagined the curse ensuring each successive generation of women in our families would never become nurturers who held their family together; instead they would lose their ability to love their children and become responsible for causing great rifts amongst their progeny… dividing and scattering their families in time over the centuries because of their inability to build cohesive family units and give their children a sense of “home”. As I began to reflect upon this figure over the week, it scared me as I realized not only did this woman represent India for me; she also symbolized my own mother and her mother before and so on. Wow! My imagination had taken me on such a journey through the creation of this collage. It also opened up new aspects of my life to explore through the medium – always a bonus.
Redemption through Art…
One more interesting thing it did was alert me to something I often repeat but have never come to terms with before. If you look back in my Portfolios I, II and III (see Other Links below), you’ll notice religious themes play an important role when I speak of my family life. In this piece, I felt compelled to include a religious portrayal of the crucifixion of Jesus Christ (upper, left corner of top collage). As Roman Catholics, the image of Christ dying on the cross was in every room of our home. It was a reminder that without pain and suffering there was no hope of redemption. While it was obviously a symbol of sorrow, it was equally a symbol of triumph and power. As I began to reflect upon why religious imagery is so important to me I realized that perhaps that’s why I’m drawn to creating such tragic visions… as a fallen away Catholic without the drama of pain in my life and creative musings there would be no redemption for me. For me, making art is definitely a kind of redemption. It allows me to acknowledge my fears. With every little bit of understanding I derive from making my art, my fears lose a bit of their grip on my soul… this is a good thing.
Fear & Imagination…
All this talk of using creativity to address fear makes me think of a wonderful video I saw recently by the author of Age of Miracles, Karen Thompson Walker. Be sure to check out her Ted Talks video on how you can use your fears to productively imagine your life – I think it’ll really inspire some of you.
Your Turn…
What does my collage reveal to you? Everyone brings their own perspective to an artist’s work. I’d love to hear your thoughts about “The Curse”. BTW, I still feel it’s a work in progress; I’ll be adding a few more elements to it in the future and will share it with you again.
Please Note: I’m gifting myself with a week off from blogging! I’ll be back on July 29, 2013. I hope you have a great week!
PS My apologies for not wishing my American friends a very happy Fourth of July. Hope y’all celebrated in style! Also, to Jeanne-Sylvie Bellet – Joyeux Quatorze Juillet!
Other Related Links:
Prodigal Son
Losing My Religion
Modern Day Saint
The Devil and the Darkness
Black & White
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