Routes of Sorrow - Phase 1, Milton Keynes

Routes of Sorrow is the culmination of more than ten years of combined art works, created to explore the themes of loss and sorrow, specifically Chronic Sorrow and Inherited Sorrow (also known as Intergenerational Loss). The final Phase of this project focused on the notion of Hopefulness.

The project was planned and developed in five Phases.

The artworks made for Phase 1 display are here. Subsequent Phases augment the project with new bespoke artworks.

The project addresses, through objects, sound and film, emotional themes such as isolation, attachment, integration, and acceptance.

I have a particular and very personal insight into chronic sorrow, having grown up with twin, severely autistic non-verbal older brothers. At the age of seven they were placed in a residential hospital, called Pineland Hospital and Training Center, in the state of Maine (USA). They spent the next seven years living there, with over 100 other children with severe disabilities. During my childhood, visiting my brothers at this hospital was a weekly occurrence. They were moved to a similar institution in the state of Massachusetts, before being placed into residential care, as a consequence of the enactment of the ground breaking Massachusetts law referred to as ‘Chapter 766’. This law called for the closing of most state mental institutions and moving their residents into local communities.

Exhibition detail: my mother first showed me how to dry roses, an easy and uncomplicated procedure. Throughout the past five decades, whenever given a rose or roses, I have kept them in vases and then dried them. The suitcase(s) displayed belonged to my mother.

Two images recur: the BIRD WITH A BROKEN WING and the DRIED ROSE.

Both the bird (with a broken wing) and the rose are symbols representing two aspects of the self: our internal being (bird), and our external presentation to the world (the rose).

The bird is a symbol of freedom. It is the link between communication and discovery (through curiosity and conversation). It transcends space as it flies between earth and sky. Within this artwork, the bird is a source of information. But with a broken wing, the bird’s purpose is restricted, but, crucially, not stopped.

The symbol of the dried rose. The rose in bloom represents a strong and entrenched symbol of beauty. But what do we think of the rose once it’s state of highest development, freshness and vigour has passed? The dried rose can represent despair, sadness, the end of a life, and a broken heart. The Roman festival, Rosalia, is referenced, and within the context of this project, the dried roses and rose petals convey this sense of loss, and become a fragile but permanent reminder of it (i.e., Chronic Sorrow).

The dried rose petals, cascading from the Roots of Sorrow sculpture into the suitcase, represent the passing on of (often subconscious) traumas and sorrows from one generation to the next. The suitcase captures these memories and experiences, which are carried by another (i.e., Inherited Sorrow).

The artworks were made from a variety of materials: acrylic paints, modelling paste, earth pigments, soil, handkerchiefs and image transfers, stone, and feathers. The colours used were primarily dark and weighty, suggesting a sense of grief and of decay. The sepia tones of the rose transfers refer to the colour of old, musty, historical documents.