An earthy state, a natural transition

Posted on January 31, 2021 by Steph

finished artwork of birds feeding from mother plant

'An earthy state, a natural transition' 2020

This piece is the first in a new series of works that are visual responses to feelings I’m experiencing as I enter the peri menopause.

My initial process as an artist is to 'draw out my feelings' when I have an issue to understand and connect too. This involving absorbing myself into the subject matter and drawing what I feel or see from the inside. These drawings are often stories or imagened situations that take form through metaphors.

I had Covid-19 and found this time very insular, so took this opportunity of stillness to explore some of the feelings I was having as I enter the peri menopause. I had a sense of forboding loss, emotional pain and anxiety, I needed to draw it out.

I instinctivily began to draw complicated undulations and networks of tubes, that seemingly revealed themselves as my internal digestive and reproductive system. Birds appeared to be feeding or attached to organs through umbilical cords in an environment surreal yet familiar.

As I drew more, I saw landscapes and rivers with a 'mother' flower that fed the birds and seemed to harness or stimulate the energy for all things I was drawing.

I realised I was literally drawing parallels connecting my menopause with the earth. Making observations that connected the 'earthly state' of climate change to the 'a natural transition' of me entering into the peri menopause, I lost where one story began and other ended.

Earth is experiencing climate change, deforestation, the ice caps melting, coral reef bleaching, desert landscapes are forming. My physical transition, emotions and symptoms seem to be metaphorically mirrored to Earth. As it weeps, drys, burns and becomes wounded, so do I. 'An earthy state, a natural transition' is my visual translation of this statement.

I will continue making using this visual language. Im hoping it will enable me to express how I feel, as I navigate through the physical transatory times ahead.

drawing of birds feeding from a plant