Void is not empty

•

Void is not empty

Charcoal and Ink on Paper (2020)
76.2 x 56 cm

How do you process the loss of someone close? How do you overcome the depts of emotions you drown in once the person is gone? For me it started with the moment of denial, to rage, to grief, to abyss and finally a step closer to acceptance. But do we ever reach the final stage of acceptance? I wouldn't know.

This series is an act of encountering the negative that is beyond its threshold. It is an act of diving into the depths of my intrinsic emptiness. The absence of light and the markings of shadow intent to create a passage between tangible and intangible, hope and disappointment, life and death. Each artwork symbolizes the emotions, thoughts, and feelings that grief brought upon me, merged with conscious-unconscious actions and movements of my body. These mark-makings are a result of anger, hopelessness, disappointment, frustration, denial, and ultimately a small step towards acceptance.

This body of work is a blend of abstraction and figuration depicted through black charcoal and ink. Black allows me to grief, but not without the reassurance of healing through my sorrow. Black gives me strength to accept reality for what it is. The presence of its darkness through the strokes of charcoal and drips of ink is almost blinding, it shines bright on the surface and allows me to connect with reality.