mother and daughter

The lives of the truly strong and powerful are in fact behind simulacra and beyond our imagination. Some of them, however, creep into my fantasy and reveal to me that my mother is a red fish with a long tail. This fish has become the totem of my life religion. I, her daughter, would often transform into a two-legged fish and would walk out of the swarm with pride and respect. Whenever I get stuck in the human world, I would retreat back into her huge, dark, safe belly. That place, forever brimful of water, is either the paradise lost long ago or the Elysium yet to come. There, time and memory solidify into blissful eternity for all wounded souls to seek comfort and peace. Entrance into that world requires animal alertness to capture faintest flash of momentary wonder in life so that our imagination can reach the remotest place of creation.

(charcoal painting on paper)