A difficult night for my mother and me.  She was really wrestling with restlessness, the separation of the body and mind.  I don't know if she comprehends what is going on but there is anger...maybe somewhere there is the "Do not go gentle into that good night./Rage, rage against the dying of the light...D Thomas." But very little continuous sleep was to be found during the night.  I wandered over to the front window, I had heard the rain start, it poured in spurts.  I found a little comfort in seeing the rain light up the street.  There was a happy glimmer to the night.  Glistening reflection from street lights.  Glitterings, from ambient sources, who's origins were unbeknown to the casual observer. It gave a warmer feeling then just the matted look of the night.  Color reversals, muting and absorbing what little is out there to "see."  The morning came and so another day starts...oh, what lays ahead? Still...I Ching states, perseverance favors the great man.


So to continue with things I have been thinking of in the composing of LEFT: This image is by W. Eugene Smith, titled, "Walk in Paradise Garden," 1946.  Are the children walking in or walking out.  Are they happy, were they ever happy?  For me the date is also important to note.  Smith was a photojournalist during WWII, I can not imagine that there were too many "paradises" left in 1946  Europe. I also like the framing within the frame.  The walking out of the shadow.  The appearance of the closeness of the children.

And, I am  intrigued by the use of shadows in the theatre/staging.  The use of back lighting and the position/angle of the light source can throw or split the shadows.

Finally, there are the the earlier work of Christian Boltanski.  His use of votive candles and shadows. It is the shadows that are the images not the object he used to cast them that he is asking for your attention to see. Also, votive, offered or performed in fulfillment of a vow or in gratitude or devotion.  I feel that when I look at the figures in my cloth, that there is not vow.  The vow has been broken some how.

And finally two little studies I did for the figures...thinking about those two figures: 

 Please note the coffee stains are there for a reason as well.  Is it two children, a woman and a child, sister/brother, or two sisters.  Depending on how the figures are defined, the relationship of left/leaving is       changed in meaning.