Monday Muse: Hilma af Klint
It feels strange to be writing during this time in our collective experience but art and creation is giving me much needed comfort right now. The world is upside down and everything is uncertain. Everyone is looking for the answer, the end, a date they can mark on their calendar but it seems like this is a futile flailing of our human ego’s need for control. I am acknowledging the ways I am lucky right now and leaning in to the discomfort of this situation. We are all affected by this is some way, the virus is bringing people together in unprecedented ways and if anything, I have comfort in imagining a better future when this is all over. May we never go back to the way things were before.
Lately, I’ve been returning to the work of Hilma af Klint and her lifelong quest of introspection and spiritualism. This seems like the perfect time to visit those themes in my own work. I have several books of Klint’s work and especially love the one of her personal notebooks. She made hundreds of them in her lifetime, thousands of hours and pages of research, critical thought, and questioning. She saw the journey as the destination, which is my favorite way to travel, with the horizon ever receding to a new place. Hilma af Klint was a Seeker, someone who asked questions which one could never really answer, the enjoyment being in the exercise of thought.
On a trip to LA last year, which feels like a lifetime ago now, I met with one of my spiritual guides and had a private mediation and card reading with her. We talked about what it means to be an Artist. I left with this idea of ruby red ink and a gold fountain pen. I went to an art store to get these items but something else caught my eye. A huge sketchbook, a tome really, sitting on the shelf. I bought it and it has been gathering dust on my bookshelf since then. Honestly, I’ve felt too intimidated to start to put things inside because of my inner demon of perfectionism. However, I think of Hilma af Klint, an artist who spent her life filling sketchbooks and journals with imperfect visual representations of thought. These notebooks were for her and her alone, not something she shared with the world. In fact, most of her work wasn’t seen until long after her death. However, I assume their value to her was much more than the opinions of others, they were her journey, the collection of her steps in this world.
So during this time I am going to try and channel the ethos of Klint while I can. I have the luxury of time right now, the days passing like slow honey. I want to approach this situation with inquisitive curiosity and stay on the journey, letting the horizon recede evermore. I will also start to fill up my sketchbook tome, putting into it that which is important and significant to me and my journey alone.
I hope everyone is staying safe and practicing social distancing. We can all do our part to defeat this and bring about a better future, but we must all do our part. If you haven’t made my Anxiety Catcher for times when you’re feeling anxious, you can find it and print it out here. I hope everyone who reads this blog is safe and healthy and that you know how much I appreciate all of you. Looking forward to having our day in the sun in a post Covid-19 world.
