In the Land of the Blind

'In the land of the Blind'

H52xW60xD5cm

This work was a bit of a hybrid, part sculpture, part painting!

I came back from Nepal with a stack of Nepali canvas, which I made alongside a Thanka painter in Kathmandu. The process is long and labour-intensive, but once finished the material has a quality velum look and feel all of its own and is very resilient.

With this in mind, I worked upon it firstly by attaching an oil painting that I made of my left eye onto a wooden jigsaw. After placing this on the canvas, I outlined the gaps between the jigsaw pieces with steel dress pins.

It is strung in the same traditional way as it was made with string stretched taut between nails.

I have travelled and lived in Nepal many times but was utterly devastated for the country and people when I witnessed the earthquakes there in 2015. I made this work in response to what I saw and can never un see and my feeling of horror, helplessness and frustration at that time.

The title is based on the proverb," In the Land of the Blind the One-Eyed Man is King".

This work also relates to drawing No.4 in my Abracadabra drawing and print.