The Myth of Chiron

process-etching on aluminium plates

The Greek myth of Chiron is a classic story of the wounded healer and it offers a mythological way to explore the nature of distress and how an individual (or community) can move beyond this to a place of healing. Chiron was born a centaur but as a cultured student he rejected and ignored his animal body until he was accidentally wounded in the knee by Hercules. Half horse and half human, half mortal and half immortal he embarked on a quest to find a cure for his pain. He was given a choice to relinquish his immortality to save Prometheus and so descended into the underworld, where his sacrifice was recognised by Zeus and he was able to return to the heavens where he remains as the constellation ‘Alpha Centauri’.

Trauma Geography

process -large scale drawing

Made of drawings done over the past 2 years relating to the same themes as the Chiron myth and with some of the same imagery. The work is made up of around 40 separate fragments which have been put together and then worked on as a whole resulting in a piece which is many layered and has work done at various times and over time. The layers reflect my interest in transgenerational trauma and how words, silence, stories and therefore trauma can get passed down through generations. This is not inevitable and bringing the fragmented pieces together required making marks that brought some unity and cohesion to the work and the way the individual pieces had been laid out suggested the dark around the outside and a sense of light in the centre. The 2 paintings called ‘Silences’ on the far wall have a similar quality in the many layers of oil paint that have been applied over time.

Over the pandemic I have been part of a weekly online drawing group called the ‘sculptors drawing space’ where we gather on zoom and draw listening to the sounds of each other working but never sharing the finished work-this is very freeing. Many of the works that make up this image come from that time.

Good write-up in a local paper, the -

'Impartial Reporter'