I had a residency in Cornwall, in January. I found my overworked and overloaded body and mind appreciated the simplicity of being on the coast in a quiet location. As I wandered the beaches alone, trying to capture something of my experience, I found myself exploring layers such as my trip being that of a tourists, mixed with the experience of often being caught in storms while simultaneously trying to process aspects of my work as a psychotherapist. My experience was also coloured by reading Healing The Shame That Binds You (not the usual light reading for a break!).
The art work I have ended up producing is mainly drawings of the wind. I would sit on the beach with my eyes closed responding to it in marks, in an attempt to let go and have something of a transcendent experience with the elements. The images, I then worked into back in the studio.
I was compelled with how the wind from the storms took over everything, the waves crashed, people I saw looked weather beaten, including myself and even the rock surfaces had lines that had been carved into them throughout time, because of the effects of the water that had been blown over them.
Wind has always represented change to me, I find it hopeful. It comes along, without mercy and ready or not things are going to move.
The images I produced, became sculptures and some ceramics. I am still developing these further at my studio. While reading about shame and making these images, I reflected on my own want to let go of the things that bind me and hold me back. Those echos and patterns that I have got caught in from my own upbringing.
My time on these beaches was about unravelling, giving myself a chance to loosen the grips I have placed on myself and learning to let go, or even allowing the wind to blow them away in some kind of alchemic magical spell.