Ancient pigments
©KAT 2023
Ancient pigments mixed with acrylic binder on coarse French linen 5.75 x 1.75 meters … Sept/Oct/Nov 2023
Film: ‘Dancing With Mum’ by Rebecca Hagen - Nov 2023
“The past is not a burden; it is a scaffold which brought us to this day. We are free to be who we are—to create our own life out of our past and out of the present. We are our ancestors. When we can heal ourselves, we also heal our ancestors, our grandmothers, our grandfathers and our children. When we heal ourselves, we heal Mother Earth.”
‘Dancing With Mum’ - filmed by Rebecca Hagen. My Painting, my daughter’s gaze.
‘Ancient pigments’ 5.25m x 1.75m
The words quoted above were sent to me from my dear friend Liselott, sharing the wisdom of Rita Pikta Bluemstein (1933 - 2021 R.I.P.), one of the founding members of the International Council of Thirteen Indigenous Grandmothers - an unprecedented global alliance of indigenous female elders who come to together in 2004 to protect our planet in crisis and envision a future for the next seven generations. A group of women Liselott has been fortunate enough to meet.
Liselott sent me these words at the beginning of December 2024, a year since my completing this painting. It was today (February 2025) as I sat down to write, that I remembered them. They echo my process these last 10 years. Talk to me deeply. ‘Ancient Pigments’ is the first painting that marks a shift in my practice – in my way of being. Dissolving the boundaries between I, We, Us. Moving away from singular ‘notes’ and ‘melodies’ as I strive to create multilayered, multifaceted, multisensory ‘symphonies’ – a body of voices - performative painting in and of itself. Past, present, future merged as one. Healed / healing. Mini Kat, My Being & I - moving forward together.
Photo © Rolf Hagen - Liselott, Murphy (R.I.P) & I, Sweden 2023
