Mandala Slides for SOS show

Spoiler alert! If you want FIRST to view the art in person (as it was meant to be projected onto water, one slide at a time, as a progressing story) DO NOT SCROLL DOWN. If you don't think you will care, scroll on. This is mainly for those of you who will not make the show.

Here's what the newspaper said about the show.

Here's the description that will hang beside the art at the gallery:

DEPTH CONTAINERS designed by kylie brown | artwork by melanie cloud & rebecca gordon  

There is something sacred where darkness is… It is something deep within us all. Though when we look inside deep into the regions of our life and memory, what we find in our silent territories is a mystery, a void, something unfathomable that we keep. Darkness and its shades of shadows keep these secrets.   

Two drum containers filled with 40+ gallons of water with a rigged light shining down on each container. Each light is equipped with a frame box. Artists Melanie Cloud & Rebecca Gordon each created ten interactive slides. We encourage viewers to place each slide into the light which will be projected onto the water. Look into the Depth Containers, reflect on each image and how it plays a role in your story. Does it stir your secret silent territories?

 

 

 

 

 

  

Ten 15X15" slides. Acrylic on Acetate. Riveted cardboard surround.

My thoughts on the slides:
     I love the progression and actual projection of this piece. Something which is lost without the depth container for viewing, is how the "mirrors" reflect opaquely into the dark water which seems to go infinitely deep. To this point, all slides project translucently and it is easy to forget one is actually looking into dark water. Now viewers must look again to be sure of what they are seeing, encountering their own profile/reflection in the piece.
     As always, I'm not sure about painting with acrylic. I did enjoy playing with the thinner and liked the ease of such a quick drying time. The artwork is decidedly simple (hello "incorrect" 7th grade perspective drawing) and colors intentionally primary.

My own meaning:
     With these slides, I ask: Have we really confronted our own role in the perpetuation of secrets? It is "easy" to understand that our own darkness binds further darkness and perpetuates others' darkness---and that bringing things into the light is important to our own freedom, and the freedom of others.  As a therapist, people often tell me, "I just want the truth." (This is something I have said several times, myself.) Do we really want the truth from others? Can we handle the truth? If we expect it from others, are we willing to share our own truth? 

     With the last slide, I have placed all viewers inside a symbolic, golden circle that is translucent, reflective and shiny. My hope---my gift---is that all viewers have the opportunity to encounter themselves as eternal, spiritual beings surrounded by light. What if instead of focusing on the purgation of secrets/darkness we instead chose to view ourselves and others in this "light", secrets and all?
     Being human is complicated business. I believe dark secrets are an utterly human experience meant to distract from more important things like love and beauty and divinity.