I've decided to start on a second art journal with a different theme from the first one. On days when I don't have inspiration for one, I can paint something in the other. In fact, I may decide to have three or four journals going on at the same time. This second art journal will probably be on the theme of "life between cultures," a subject close to my heart and experience. But that theme may undergo slight changes as the art emerges.
Here we have a daruma doll representing one culture (Japan), and a matrioshka doll representing another (Russia). It really doesn't matter what countries they represent, just that they are different. Though we hold passports from the same nation, my husband and I were born and raised in different countries with vastly different cultures, so it might as well be called an international marriage.
But it isn't marriage that I want to depict in this art journal. What I want to depict is the experience of being part of, and yet not being part of, the land and culture in which one is physically placed. I bet many of you are in the same situation. Maybe you have depicted that in art, or maybe you would like to. If you do, please share it with me.
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Thank you for sharing your art journeys-journals. I enjoy so much your deep feelings about so many aspects of the human experience.
ReplyDeleteI'm also "between cultures": I'm from Spain,currently living in Morocco. It's an enriching but sometimes tiring experience. I guess everyone can read about them in my letters, even when I think I'm not writing about the matter. The idea of your art journals is great, thanks for sharing your wonderful illustrations.
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing, Eva. It thrills me to think of the artistic influences your background and current situation must have on the way you express yourself, in art, in language, in cooking!
DeleteBeautiful image! I lived in Malawi for two years and became very familiar with that sense of being between two cultures. In Scotland though, I feel quite at home, despite all the work the Scottish Nationalists do to make it seem as though Scotland and England are very very different.
ReplyDeleteHmm, that's interesting. I've always imagined the relationship between Scotland and England as having something in common with the relationship between Hokkaido and the main island of Japan. I often dream of Hokkaido becoming an independent country. Our way of life and way of thinking is quite different.
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