With Age, Time Has Become My Ally
36”x48
Handpainted collage on canvas
Title based on quote from Flights by Olga Tokarczuk
In December of last year, I invited a true lover of art to my home to look at my latest work and have some conversations about the art and life in general. Throughout our time together, he made comments about my work reminding him of various artists and literature including Flights, by Olga Tokarczuk. It is such an honour to have my pieces remind someone of other artists or recall something they have read or seen in the past.
At my show at Loophole in February, this same friend came to the closing event and gifted me a copy of Tokarczuk's book. I have been taking my time with this one, and am thoroughly enjoying it, making notes and underlining so many sentences. One paragraph I have read over and over again. I was so taken with it, that the first sentence became the title of this new piece.
"With the years, time has become my ally, as it does for every woman—I’ve become invisible, see-through. I am able to move around like a ghost, look over people’s shoulders, listen in on their arguments and watch them sleep with their heads on their backpacks or talking to themselves, unaware of my presence, moving just their lips, forming words that I will soon pronounce for them.”
Aging can be a bit of a roller coaster, especially for women. I’ve had many moments where I am appreciative of my age and where I am in my life, and then other moments I just can’t believe how old I am and how quickly time is passing. I have been taking a closer look at all of the people in my life that have caused me to take a better look at myself, a more honest and vulnerable look at myself. Especially my daughter.
There are many people in our lives that serve as mirrors for all of us. Some of these mirrors provide a quick glance and then disappear, while other mirrors we see daily for most of our lives. Some mirrors we happily look in, some we avoid and then there are the mirrors we can’t avoid.
I think time is one of those things though that you can either fight or embrace. Aging gives you an opportunity to try and embrace time more often. The woman in this painting is holding a mirror representative of all of the mirrors that she has walked by, stood in front of and avoided her whole life. The young person in the mirror is symbolic of my daughter. She is my continuous constant mirror, showing me the best and worst parts of myself and those pieces that are still growing. My daughter probably sees or will see, parts of me in her, but she is truly her own human and that’s a beautiful thing!
As we age I’m learning it’s ok to be a little invisible, to move around like a ghost looking over peoples shoulders and listening in their conversations like Tokarczuk says. It’s through these experiences and knowing when to be quiet, that wisdom is truly gained.
As with all of my work, I leave all imperfections that occur in the process of collaging large pieces of paper. I feel any and all imperfections are representative of the imperfections in all of us as human beings. The things that make us unique.
I would love to know how you interpret this piece and what it means to you. I love to talk about art, so feel free to send me a message.