In Lak’ech/ You are My Other Me

Last night I was going through my spreadsheets and trying to organize myself as I have a couple of shows coming up and worrying about not having enough work and on the edge of a minor panic attack when I realized that I haven’t been doing my process that I have been doing for years. The process is this: I make my painting. Then I photograph it. Then I process the photo and read a little and write a little to give it a title. Once I have a title, I then save a large file psd, then a large file jpg, then a web file jpg. Then I post on my blog to write about the piece which helps me articulate and clarify my thoughts. Then I add the art info to my spreadsheets. I have one master file of all the work I have made. And then I have another file with available work and whether it is with me in the studio or if it’s in a gallery. Also particulars like if I framed it and how much that cost. That’s the gist.

Well, apparently I kind of dropped the ball for some reason….which is crazy because I usually don’t. And I didn’t realize how far the ball had dropped. Ooops. I have been tired and feeling overwhelmed by life this year. It happens. I think I dropped the ball sometime late spring, early summer. This piece was created many months ago. This year, but maybe it was early spring? Late spring? It was on my studio wall for a long time. And to be fair to myself I actually changed it just a few weeks ago. So I guess it hasn’t been months, but just a few weeks.

But this piece is important because it was a pivotal piece in my thought process of the work I have been doing since I started back up in my studio in September. I gave it a title this morning that I have actually used before because I love it so much.

There is a Mayan phrase that is “In Lak’ech” which means “I am you or you are me”. This poem by Chicano playwright Luis Valdez is part of a larger poem called “Pensamiento Serpentino“.

I have been working on some paintings for a show that is about relationships or connections. For me, one of the threads that goes through my work is about how we are all connected and how we need to tend and repair the severed connections between the human world and the other living beings on this Earth, and honestly, between ourselves. Human nature tends to want to “other” everything, which creates barriers and often violence. In order to cultivate belonging, we have to be intentional and see reflections of ourselves in other beings. We may not see a mirror reflection of ourselves in a tree, but could there be a thread that ties us together? Could there be the recognition that there is an energy that we all spring from? Could there be an idea that we live in a world where we can cooperate with each other and coexist and that we need each other to live? After all, without trees, we would all be dead.

It’s not easy. It’s funny because as I write those questions out I think about how often I get irritated and aggravated by people and society at large. It is nothing new that I often think about the things I struggle with, in my work. I’ve mentioned that through the years on this blog. The more peaceful a painting is, I was probably dealing with a stressful situation in my personal life. I create what I wish for! Anyway, the lesson for myself is that to cultivate belonging and reciprocal relationships with others, it has to be intentional.

I have been working on a series of encaustic mixed media paintings that are dealing with this theme of reciprocity in relationships, mirror reflections, creating connections, etc. I don’t know yet if this piece is actually going to go to the show about connections, or another one. I’ll figure that out soon. Once i get everything titled and in my spreadsheet. ha! That sounds so nerdy.

Whew, long post! Making up for lost time. But this actually really helped me gather my thoughts together for my current series. And that’s why I do it!