From the Darkness into the Light
Most artists will have distinct “eras” in their art style. Small changes that morph their work overtime creating something new. I am no exception.
When I was younger my artwork was very dark and sometimes macabre. It matched the inner turmoil that resided in my soul. A dark reflection of the wounds I acquired from a childhood filled with abuse and neglect. That was a time of my life that I created art that matched and complimented the darkness that I felt inside.
As I grew older things began to shift and I started to lean a bit into color and then back again to the dark moody art I was accustomed to. This shift from darkness, to light and then back again would prove to be a constant theme in my art and photography that maintains until present day.
I began to explore long exposure photography at night. I absolutely loved the contrast of the black of night and the bright and saturated colors long exposures afforded me. I loved photographing lights, and light painting. I eventually started to chase aurora borealis so that I could photograph them as well.
My landscape photography grew to be super bright and colorful, but still occasionally something darker or more moody would make its way in. Creating a continuous ebb and flow between light and darkness, color and shades.
In 2017 my life came grinding to a halt when my father passed away in a tragic road accident. This plunged me into another dark phase of my life and I stopped making art and photography all together for quite some time. I started to dabble in 2019 with crafts and a few abstract things but it wasn’t until late 2020 that I would return to creating art again, into my next era.
I discovered that I have a complex mental health illness called Dissociative Identity Disorder. I had begun to do the self healing work to heal from my past. I was still unable to do photography so I returned back to using more “classic” art mediums like paint and ink drawings. This time however things were different. I realized I am firmly an abstract artist and for the first time in my life felt free to explore my creativity in ways that my mind needed to. I also had developed a fascination for UV art, inspired by the deco at the many music festivals I had been to since 2007.
I began to create art that brought light into the darkness.
Looking back over my lifetime I realize now that the common medium I use was light. Whether it was how I used it to create mood in a drawing or how I bent it to my will in photograph, I was always looking for ways to bring light into my work and into my life in some manner.
It is clear to me now that my explorations with art and light and especially my current fascination with uv paint and stained glass is that I needed to fill darkness with light so that I and others can find their way. So that we do not feel alone.
I realize that I need to be light in this world!
