HUNGRY GHOSTS

WATER, EARTH, ETHER, AIR, FIRE 42" x 22"

Mixed media collage on artist-made papers

Hungry Ghost I, 48" in diameter, pierced artist-made paper

This is a series of  five “Hungry Ghosts”, related to the demon-like creatures described in Buddhist, Taoist, Hindu, Sikh, and Jain texts as the remnants of the dead who are afflicted with insatiable desire, hunger or thirst as a result of bad deeds or evil intent carried out in their lifetimes.  Bad deeds seem to be a theme of our current era the Anthropocene.

To me my hungry ghosts are this reference of survival, and homage to those taken from life too quickly:

“To survive we breathe in and out; to touch another our fingertips reach out; when pierced our blood comes through our skin; when bathing drops of water absorb into us. When a drone targets a site the dots on the radar screen overlay the image. When bombs drop, the earth is burnt, scarred and opened. When guns harm, a spray is left behind. And when dreams quicken we feel the urgency for escape-through the holes , from one side to another, from dark to light, scaling ourselves to push through the apertures”.  HCF