About

From the Lips: Stories of the Process

During the making of the Guanajuato, Mexico paintings, I was ensconced in a study of the divine feminine as articulated in The Gospel of Mary of Magdalene, (trnsl. Jean-Yves LeLoup).  I was also concentrating upon shadow-work-oriented endeavors meant to liberate internalized dogmas and reclaim sovereignty, (heart, mind, VOICE) from the various and sundry ‘spiritual fathers’ of my past. 

From the Lips - the design concept was catalyzed (in part) by a study of the wounds in Christ’s palms…and how very vulvic they are my dears! I was seeing a lot of red in/during my work and began exploring the somatic impressions of that hue. As I turned my attention to the living rivers coursing and thrumming beneath my skin, I reflected on the many occasions in which I have deferred my inner authority in order to confirm to precepts ordained by an external one: visceral memories of swallowing my voice/being fearful of giving voice. 

I felt as the body of a volcano, lava moving beneath its surface. The urge to move that rage though my lips rose up in me. My inquiry: what is the image, the feeling, the sound, the  potent potential of a voice raised in the service of wisdom? How can concentrated, scintillating, throbbing anger be channeled intelligently so that it becomes a fire that burns away detritus and a wrath that does not abide injustice?

The imagery that emerged echoes the thought-in-act process. This piece carries the vibes of ‘re-education’ and re-memorying it shepherded for me.