Art in focus - 1: "As Long as there is Life, there is Hope"

About time we talked about some of our art - the kind of thing we're likely to send out to subscribers of wowlookwhatigot.com.  We decided to make this an occasional series, and once we're up and running, we'll post every month with an in-depth discussion of that month's piece. To get started, a look at one of Vivi-Mari's handmade collages ...

"As Long as there is Life, there is Hope" : Handmade Collage :  31 x 23 cmCopyright © 2008 by Vivi-Mari Carpelan

"As Long as there is Life, there is Hope", is a mixed media collage consisting of photocopied images, decorative paper, and my own drawing. 

Sometimes I feel like a broken winged bird, or a chick in an unhatched egg, or even just the skeleton of something that could potentially fly... all of these musings are present in the symbolism of this image. The message isn't specific, but invites the viewer to let their own associations fly, using their own life experience as a starting point... 

When you look at a symbolic picture, it's often enough to let your imagination roam... but the experience deepen if you think about what the elements symbolize in general terms. It's not about reading an image literally, but rather allowing the elements to speak to you through a combination of thinking and feeling. Don't let your preconceptions about the facts of life rule your intuitive understanding of this kind of image. The way to see it is, the whole is greater than its parts... Looking at a symbolic picture from this point of view can stimulate your own creativity. It's literally about "thinking outside of the box"!

Eggs point to potential and rebirth. In primordial myths all over the world, the egg is a symbol of the very moment when the world came to being. "The One" was broken into two; Heaven (the white) and Earth (the yolk) became the first elements of reality as we know it. The two parts also denote the dualism that is present in our sphere of existence - everything has an opposite. On a very basic level there is up-down, male-female, night-day, cold-warm, young-old, and so on - perhaps you're familiar with the concept of Yin and Yang in the Chinese philosophy of Taoism? Yin (the feminine principle) and Yang (the masculine principle) exemplify the two opposite aspects of reality. 

A bird often symbolises spirit and a freedom from restraints. A skeleton is the very structure of our being, that which holds us together. Angels are usually seen as some form of messenger and the inspired help in moments of despair. This image is not about believing in angels, but about the belief that circumstances can change for the better. Help can come in the form of inspiration, or intuition, or another person - the angel in this picture symbolises any one of countless of possibilities. It happens when the time is right, or when the proverbial egg has hatched.

Vivi-Mari Carpelan, 2013