Guiding Light

This was personally an important work for me to make because it is an inner vision I have been seeing for upwards of 30 years.

A post by Amanda Palmer a while ago, about the being what and who she is inspired it. I’m paraphrasing, but she spoke about the people who feared her power and of trying not to be afraid of that power herself, amongst other things. She is one of those who stands out for lighting the way, challenging the stereotypes, standing up and saying the difficult things that need to be said. Her words reminded me powerfully of a dream I had in my 20’s. This picture is that dream. It’s the place I go inside myself when I am truly and properly lost and afraid. I’ve dreamed about it many times over the years and I felt the time had come try and express it.

Lighthouses are generally found where conditions are dark and dangerous. As above, so below. Human lighthouses: These are the trailblazers, the beacons, these are the torchbearers and the way-finders of life. They lead the lost to safety, they guide and warn us where danger lives. They illuminate what would otherwise remain hidden. And the path they walk is at times, I can only imagine, is a very lonely one. The burden they bear for seeing and speaking out, for hurling truth into the darkness, is too immense for me to comprehend. I honour them for stepping up when the calling beckoned.

This work is for all the human lighthouses I look up to. Amanda is one of them, my art mentor is another…people, living and dead…there are too many to name.