Hand cut paper, water colour & thread

This self portrait was part of the application criteria for a seat in a work shop facilitated by Joshua Yeldham. I usually work in hand cut paper art, drawing inspiration from the outside world and intentionally look for beauty with the aim of creating uplifting and positive pieces as an antidote to the craziness in the world. To turn inwards and focus on some of that craziness was new for me and very challenging. I wanted to do something honest, which meant it couldn’t be “beautiful”. I’d had a very intense and complicated year so far, so I had to consider how to relate the difficulties without the boring specifics and without being cliché. This work shows the calm face that we put on for the rest of the world every day because we’ve got obligations we need to fulfill and we don’t want to burden others with our problems. The reality is that sometimes we’re falling apart and we’re often only just managing to hold ourselves together enough to make it through the next day.