Between the Shadow and the Soul - Mobile Installation: Fabric, Wire, Ribbon, Stone and Lucid - Mixed Media
This installation celebrates balance and imperfection in marriage and life. It began around my anniversary. As I started to develop the concept of a mobile using discarded fabric scraps I came across some extra fabric from when I designed my wedding dress. The colors reminded me of our beautiful fall wedding and I instantly remembered the reading we chose by Pablo Neruda, and how it embodies the love between us.
XVII (I do not love you) by Pablo Neruda
I do not love you as if you were salt-rose, or topaz,
or arrow of carnations that propagates fire.
I love you as certain dark things are to be loved,
in secret, between the shadow and the soul.
I love you as the plant that never blooms
but carries in itself the light of hidden flowers;
thanks to your love the tight aroma, risen from the earth, lives darkly in my body.
I love you without knowing how, or when, or from where.
I love you straightforwardly, without complexities or pride;
so I love you because I know no other way
than this: where I does not exist, nor you,
so close that your hand on my chest is my hand,
so close that your eyes close as I fall asleep.
I began by reading the poem aloud and recording it. I then fed the recording into a soundwave generator online, producing a bar-graph-like representation. The bars were measured for length and the fabric, selected at random, was cut to the corresponding lengths.
The number 7 is a mystical number and appears in various forms in the Jewish wedding ceremony. As there are 7 days in creation, the number is recognized by wishing the couple the kind of perfection in marriage as when the tradition was born with Adam and Eve. There are seven blessings, the couple circles each other seven times, etc. The circle is also a powerful symbol representing eternity and wholeness. This mobile is made up of rings within rings. There are 7 rings of fabric. Also, the recording is looped three times repeating the pattern of fabric lengths, and there are 4 rotations within the mobile - adding up to seven once again.
Stones act not only as counterbalance, but remind me of the rocky shore of the beach we were married on. Just as it took dedication and patience to balance the bars and rings, our marriage (any marriage, for that matter) takes effort to make it function. Our friendship and love carries us through as we grow and change, sometimes the balance shifts one way or another, but we always come around to find our fulcrum point in the end.