Yesterday I started a discussion on ambiguity in art with the photograph ‘Limbs’. Today I want to provide a concrete example of how this has worked for me with the poem ‘Beneath’.

‘Beneath’ was originally written to accompany a photograph of the dam, also titled ‘Beneath’. I liked the ambiguity of the language, and thought it was about swimming, and that feeling of being under the water, not wanting the weight of gravity on the physical body. It had space around the words which allowed a shift.

This shift manifested after I was diagnosed with breast cancer. When I painted ‘Pink Lady’ the poem immediately sprung to mind, and I etched it into wet paint. My etching wasn’t neat and it is hard to read, but I think that is fitting. My emotions were ragged too. The poem now reads as a metaphor for not wanting to face reality. I feel it adds deep emotion to ‘Pink Lady’. I didn’t change a word. The space in the poem allows a different framing, a different meaning, and the words are just as powerful.

I kept the reference to water, by painting water drops running down the face of the woman and also dripping off her shoulders. The clouds are there too, as background.

If you enjoyed this post, check out the others in the series here.