| Ribbon - more |
|
Theres a Ribbon in the Sky...
for our love" - Stevie Wonder
This painting is influenced by Stevies' words of hope and joy, and many other thoughts and experiences over the years it took to paint. It is also very much inspired by the writing of English author C.S Lewis - Chronicles of Narnia and the book from the series... which I was reading aloud
The Voyage of the DAWN Treader... wikipedia
Coming from the land of the dawn, the "Far East" - Gisborne New Zealand, "the First City of the Sun" I felt a need to deepen the narrative of the book and document for my children a deeper understanding of history and place and presence. Aslans country. Make it real as our ;local author Witi Ihimaera did for my generation of student when he put us 'in' the stories.
For C.S. Lewis and other Europeans the southern hemisphere might be a 'discovery' but I was taking over where he left off. Painting it not from imagination but from knowing Lewis could not possess. Yeah of course Aslan the Lion was there, (CS Lewis's symbol of God) and some of your ancestors were there too going about their business.
Apparently the Eastenmost Island of the Torres Strait - Mer Island (link to photos of Mer) - the first to get the dawn homeland of Eddie Koiki Mabo and the team of leaders for whom Mabo day is named - and the landmark landrights case that overturned the legal fiction - Terra Nullius.
So it's also a glorious synchronicity - that the characters in the book visit the island of the merpeople.
Deepening further the restorative symbols of hope and redemption in the story and in real life.
|
