Routes of Sorrow: like the Phoenix from the Flame - Phase 5, Oxford

The final exhibition phase of this project represents the culmination of more than ten years of combined art works, created to explore the themes as outlined elsewhere, with a final focus on the notion of Hopefulness.

While I had carefully planned out all 5 Phases of this project, an inescapable disaster occurred, that necessitated a change of direction. My UK studio of 23 years was tragically burned to the ground.

The title of this project – Routes of Sorrow – may appear to dwell on misfortune and losses of many kinds, including the loss of someone close. Loss is the inherent focus of this work, but so is its complement, hopefulness. This is most evident in my largest painting, Lost Hallway (destroyed), where a bird with a broken wing moves toward a rose at the end of the hall and in The Outsider, the validator. It was also the message of the performance Carrying / Shedding.

Several new sculptures and two paintings were added to the project in this Phase, along with OXUS 'sound scapes' and the film Carrying / Shedding. See images, below.