never wanted to be ..., 2024

Oil on canvas, ink drawing on paper, fir wood. Large scale paintings are 166 x 210 cm, and the smaller artworks in the middle 15x24cm

I draw on motifs that run through Christian practices, such as altars and rituals, and the opposing concepts often used in scripture – such as below and above, earth and heaven, darkness and light, death and life, and evil and goodness – to create a triptych. It is a non-denominational altar about the borderland in which one finds oneself in order to reach a longed-for place or state. The upward moving forms found in this territory represent a process of growth and elevation, expressing the potential of that which is below to move higher.

never wanted to be

elsewhere than to 

climb 

to the top of my holy mountain

with feet heavy

in the wet summer grass and

to look up at the sky

if I looked close enough, perhaps I’d see

me on the sacred

land

in front of you

you are so mighty and bury me 

in yourself