September 15, 2003
Letting Go
I’ve taken my paintings off the wall and piled them up to get ready for my trip to San Francisco. Without stretchers and because they are long and narrow like tapestries, it’s relatively easy to do. I just roll them up and insert them in a tube. These works are a series begun in 1994 through 1999, for a project entitled The Song of Memory, which was inspired by Riane Eisler’s book, The Chalice & The Blade.
What is not easy is letting them go, however. Each painting has been a world I have lived in and reminds me, when I lose contact with myself and the judging mind takes over, that I have indeed lived. They document my life in a way that words are unable to do. My wish for them is the same wish I have for myself; that they are loved and understood and find their place in the world. Riane Eisler bought one of the first of this series and she hung it outside her bedroom door. She told me that it gives her great pleasure to encounter it often, upon entering and exiting the room. So, as much as it’s difficult to let them go I will be thrilled if they find a place for themselves in the world, and of course I would be grateful for the money.
Speaking of gratitude, I feel an abundance of it after my time in Roma. I was loved and cared for by friends, both old and new, and the city still holds the magic for me that it always had.
A presto,
Barbara
This piece from 1996 is entitled "Prophetic Memory" and is part of the series. My friend Raja calls this piece my Koran.
