I was looking for the heart area. Was it to be found in New Zealand, was it in the Netherlands or would it be in France? Trying to establish a new life in Burgundy, France, after nearly 20 years living in New Zealand, having been raised in the Netherlands and born in Pakistan, didn't prove to be so easy. I kept remembering 2 phrase I've heard quite some years ago, 'Home is where the heart is' and 'Where is home?' This last one coming from my friend and American artist, Kathy Hoyer, (who was living, and still lives, between Amsterdam and Arizona in the States) with whom I shared similar sentiments about this issue. This search for the heart was not only an external matter, but it also included an interior investigation...
When I am looking at my paintings made over that period when I was looking for the heart, it appeared to be located somewhere between the hips and the shoulders, but it was carefully covered over by layers of clothing and pieces of jewelry, originating from many different corners of the world...
... After having made 7 paintings of this kind, I increased the seize of the paper and made 5 more (only 4 are shown here), this time including hands of women, involved in hand-craft...
... The next set of 5 paintings (only 4 are shown here), again increased in seize, shows slightly more context, all of them referring to fire, as if a sacred ritual might help me in my quest...
... The 6 smaller paintings were first shown in 2002 as part of an installation entitled 'Letters to Johanna' in a chapel in he old city Autun, France, in remembrance to my mother who had died in 2001. The totality of these paintings on paper weren't to be shown until 2009 in one of our large barns as part of 'Route des ateliers ouverts', open days of numerous artists studios in our region.
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