Folklore- reminding myself of what I've known all along

I’ve always loved storytelling- listening to stories, passing on stories as well as making them up. Folklore and the old ways seem to have a seed of truth that when you look closely can offer you a guide through life based on where you are physically and metaphorically at any given time. For example folklore and stories about the rivers and mountains can teach us how to inhabit such spaces whereas other tales can offer moral or philosophical guidance for relationships and family matters. We have become reliant as a society on facts and science that we have forgotten that even science comes from theories, that indeed come from our imagination, built on knowledge passed on to us. This is one of the reasons I love science, it’s actually very creative.

So, when I say that folklore can offer you a guide I mean that previous experience that is held, shared and moved on to us can tell us what is important about where we are and perhaps even who we are. The stories knit together to form a landscape that places us within our own memory.

I draw objects that have folklore attached and like the connections that others can make outside of my intension as we all carry our own folklore with us. A feather, leaf, pebble or stick all have a child-like power in our imagination which comes from the early days of us finding meaning in the world. My paintings move beyond the illustrative and yet still want to connect with that inner voice and echo of old ways.

I have found that Japanese culture seems to have a language that can tap into some of these notions that I find myself trying to depict. Ideas of negative space (Ma); beauty in the ephemeral (wabi sabi) and light through tree (Komorebi) are such examples. When you hear the word and the description, your heart lifts in the recognition and knowing. For a long time looking to Japanese aesthetics and philosophy gave me a language to understand what it was I was seeing and feeling in nature. Now I am beginning to understand that traditions in my own culture that speak of the same things - maybe not quite so eloquently but maybe that’s because we stopped listening properly. Things like fairies and pixies take on a cartoonish character, in popular culture as little imaginary creatures. When really they are the stories that talk of balance in energy in the way we treat our land. Upsetting the fairies will bring bad luck. When things go wrong beyond our control pixies are to blame. Certain trees are revered and protected for fear of upsetting the fairy folk. Witches, giants, goblins and trolls all have ways of forming and changing the landscape around us including mountains, streams, rivers and bogs. Creating boundaries for where it is safe to inhabit and what should be respected and revered. I am enjoying reconnecting with these narratives and finding ways to weave them into my work alongside the eloquent beauty of the Japanese concepts.

I cast spells, make wishes as much as I offer up prayer, connecting with the in-between energy, somewhere between belief and knowledge. I know that greeting a magpie won’t change my luck and yet I whisper it anyway just in case. Hedging my bets in the same way I’ll open a window or break a match when bad luck is perceived to be following me. These old beliefs have become almost lost in their own habit. Doing them because that’s what we’ve always done rather than choosing them. In my art I want to choose which stories to revisit and how if only to keep the pixies happy.