Linked

Acrylic on canvas, wire, bandages & artificial hair, 100 x 80 cm, £1100

Shrinking body and empty stare, engraved in my memory

Contemplating the circle of life, when the gap between death and birth is erased. I was observing the final stages of life when my father was slowly departing, being swallowed by the darkness of dementia. I was struck by the similarities in the first and last stages of life, when babies and elders become alike: Both need the most care and support. Life makes a circle. It links, and everything comes to the very beginning—a vulnerable body and mind, but lacking childhood’s energy. Flowing memories are represented by bandages that usually have a healing purpose, but here their meaning is altered.