Included in the exhibition are prints of watercolour and ink paintings that were made in June 2017 in Vatoussa, Lesvos, Greece. They are part of a series of paintings inspired by fantasy and the poetry of Lemn Sissay …particularly , ‘invisible kisses’ – a passionate account of longing (see below).
Also in mind while making these works was the Quentin Tarantino film: Django Unchained, with the theme of the oppressed outsider becoming empowered and self-defining, Gifford’s Circus with all its inventiveness and humour and another poem I have had in my mind since June 2016 by Rainer Maria Rilke.
“Let everything happen to you
Beauty and terror
Just keep going
No feeling is final”
(An extract)
This poem has been percolating away in my subconscious with its lust for feeling everything… one line struck me, ‘go to the length of your longing’…
In this series of paintings I explored this theme, allowing my unconscious to travel freely to the length of longing. They explore female desire, my desire, a theme I have worked with in my art for thirty years.
I found painting these that I needed a new way of painting that could express the intensity of feeling I wanted to convey. I encouraged myself to be playful and uninhibited in my use of materials.
I enjoy looking at these now, they hold all my yearnings and aliveness.
I talk about them on my pod cast. Click to listen here – www.traciepeisley.com/a-greek-odyssey-with-tracie-peisley
You might like to see my Instagram feed ‘Peisleyarna’ which I use as a social media sketchbook gathering inspiration and charting my process. I am a prolific Artist working in many media. My work can also be found on Facebook.
INVISIBLE KISSES
written by Lemn Sissay
If there was ever one
Whom when you were sleeping
Would wipe your tears
When in dreams you were weeping;
Who would offer you time
When others demand;
Whose love lay more infinite
Than grains of sand.
If there was ever one
To whom you could cry;
Who would gather each tear
And blow it dry;
Who would offer help
On the mountains of time;
Who would stop to let each sunset
Soothe the jaded mind.
If there was ever one
To whom when you run
Will push back the clouds
So you are bathed in sun;
Who would open arms
If you would fall;
Who would show you everything
If you lost it all.
If there was ever one
Who when you achieve
Was there before the dream
And even then believed;
Who would clear the air
When it’s full of loss;
Who would count love
Before the cost.
If there was ever one
Who when you are cold
Will summon warm air
For your hands to hold;
Who would make peace
In pouring pain,
Make laughter fall
In falling rain.
If there was ever one
Who can offer you this and more;
Who in keyless rooms
Can open doors;
Who in open doors
Can see open fields
And in open fields
See harvests yield.
Then see only my face
In the reflection of these tides
Trough the clear water
Beyond the river side.
All I can send is love
In all that this is
A poem and a necklace
Of invisible kisses.
Invisible Kisses and more of Lemn Sissay’s poetry and work can be read here – blog.lemnsissay.com/2013/02/12/invisible-kisses/
Watch Lemn Sissay perform Invisible Kisses on YouTube – www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEKfGCZW95U
Find out more about the festival at – www.womensfestival.eu/
