Shielded maidens by Lynsay Allen
Medium: Watercolours on pure cotton hot press paper
Size: 27.5 x 22.5 cm
Description: Shielded maidens' was the centrepiece artwork from the 'Intersections' series of small scale watercolours launched in 2021. The collection as a whole was born of a desire to shed another layer and, within that shedding, weave together the colours accumulated from the interactions and collisions I’ve had (as and all have) with the people in my life.
Medium: Watercolours on pure cotton hot press paper
Size: 27.5 x 22.5 cm
Description: Shielded maidens' was the centrepiece artwork from the 'Intersections' series of small scale watercolours launched in 2021. The collection as a whole was born of a desire to shed another layer and, within that shedding, weave together the colours accumulated from the interactions and collisions I’ve had (as and all have) with the people in my life.
Medium: Watercolours on pure cotton hot press paper
Size: 27.5 x 22.5 cm
Description: Shielded maidens' was the centrepiece artwork from the 'Intersections' series of small scale watercolours launched in 2021. The collection as a whole was born of a desire to shed another layer and, within that shedding, weave together the colours accumulated from the interactions and collisions I’ve had (as and all have) with the people in my life.
Each of us carries wounds, heartaches, memories, trauma, and pain.
Where do these memories live in the patterns of our existence? Do they drive us towards empathy, sorrow, anger, bitterness, segregation from ourselves or others, or to integration and wholeness?
Do we allow our past to cloud the future or to see more clearly the beauty to be found in the small but monumental everyday interactions and settings in our environments? Is there true beauty in the mundane?
Is simply living (and feeling) a life the purpose of our existence? Each decision, each choice is a diverging of a path and the one that leads to self is seldom clear.
With this series I’m dissecting this diaphanous web of interactions and distilling it to its essence. Who are we from moment to moment? What have we seen and what have we chosen to un-see? Which of our experiences will we allow to guide us, to push us forward? What can we discard now, with thanks? The power of community and connection combined with inner reflection for the healing of trauma.
'Shielded maidens' is a reflection of work, of consistency of boundaries, and a strength of belief. Together we are stronger with time and the reaching out and within of ourselves and community our colours can shine brightly where we have the need and the will. This work particularly focuses on the healing power that connected communities of women and their allies can bring to each other in a world that has so often let them down. There is a quiet strength in this piece that illuminates the ease and gratitude from which it was born.