Back in late October, I started a series of small 8×6 inch moody encaustic mixed media collages using my photos that remind me of portals or pathways. Liminal spaces. So far I have made 8. This is the first one I made.

I have had a long obsession with the concept of liminal spaces. The first time I learned about the concept was in high school in my AP Spanish class of places. It always stuck with me and I feel like it’s always present in my work somehow. The place between the known and the unknown. The betwixt and between. The threshold between here and there. A space of transition and transformation. A portal between one world and another.

“Liminality is a form of holding the tension between one space and another. It is in these transitional moments of our lives that authentic transformation can happen.” -Richard Rohr

When I first posted this piece over on IG, someone commented that this reminded her of a family story of her grandmother fleeing through the forest with her children during World War II. I was touched that she shared that with me and also it reminded me that art can be a portal as well.

The Way In

Sometimes the way to milk and honey is through the body.

Sometimes the way in is a song.

But there are three ways in the world: dangerous, wounding,

and beauty.

To enter stone, be water.

To rise through hard earth, be plant

desiring sunlight, believing in water.

To enter fire, be dry.

To enter life, be food.

-Linda Hogan