Amanda Palmer, of whom I have been a longtime fan and admirer, did the most amazing thing. She wrote a breathtaking piece to accompany this work. She has inspired several of my artworks. If you know her, I don’t have to explain why. In addition to being an extraordinary musician, writer, poet, human, soul-tornado, she is the possibly the least-afraid-of-getting-vulnerable person I have ever encountered. She tells the world she loves it. Almost every day. Enough said.
This is what she wrote:
This art by Niki McQueen Art is so beautiful I want to cry.
I am going through one of those long dark hallways at the moment. The systems are fragile as glass; everybody’s pain bodies are scratching at the door; winter is coming. Many I love are struggling to keep the proverbial lights on. I woke up this morning to the sound of rain falling on the dark roof, listened to a poem sent by a beloved, and spiraled into a beautiful essay about fear and how it ensnares us; lies and why people tell them; and what has happened to the female nervous system, the degraded mycelia of our trust and faith, over the last few years. It’s all connected.
Keep your senses of humor, my beautiful friends. If you have nothing you can laugh at, laugh at me. I’m ridiculous.
-Amanda Palmer