Epiqumew

What an unpredisposing word, how utterly its consonants and vowels mislead when you don't speak a word of Greek. It sounds like a character from Pokemon, for pete's sake. And yet -- it refers to "desire" or "longing" -- neither good nor bad, neither lust nor greed, just the impulsion. Of course, this far (months far) into the "Desire" piece it makes sense. I'm still working on this, velvet and painting and beading and sewing, multiple fabrics -- I'm still feeling my way, and while the concept has solidified and the techniques have more or less settled, still, the piece itself is a mystery.

It's a self-portrait really, and a tension between equally powerful compulsions -- love and possession, courage and destruction, the fire of the spirit and the depths to which we'll dive to find the pearl at the bottom of the ocean. It would be better off, in short, as a piece of writing. But too late now! It is instead a kind of painting -- only there's not much paint involved, since the entire piece is layers of fabric.

Communicating the self-portrait aspect of it without plunking a face or a figure into the piece is HARD for me to do. In fact, because of the text that is and will be included, it is a written piece in a way-- like a sketchbook page or a journal. It's the story of intertwined obsessions, in a sense. I set myself a deadline of mid-June. I have to get this done.

Epiqumew, that's its title. What a silly-sounding word for such a powerful human force.