Interesting development for me this past week. I happened across a literary site that had used one of my paintings to visually compliment a piece of poetry. As far as i know this is the first time that this has happened. The site TUDA (meaning *everything*) is based in Brazil, the writing placed along side the painting Untitled (insult I) 2009 is in Portuguese. The Editor kindly provided me with a translation.

In a red-light district the slut who gave birth
that day took a shot and three stabs in the
bar the mouth bled and a believer begs
to the glory of Jesus she is dead oh,
officer Saint kill the one. And he
killed in the name of Christ
the evildoer. And glory to
the Lord who does
the work well
amen
+
moreover
r.i.p. here
Jessica Jasmin
the daughter of a bitch
antidead didnt die, was stillborn

Souzalopes

On my first look I had lots of questions. What is the poem about? How did the Editor find my work? What is the aim of the website? All before I could think about the writing itself and consider it in relation to my work-clearly some one else had, either at a cursory glance or more in depth by referring to the ideas behind the painting.

TUDA is a literary/arts online magazine accepting submissions from Artists working in any visual or written medium. Based in Brazil, most of the content is not in English, however the kind Editor sent me the rough translation above.

Happy with the aims of the site, I could start to think about the writing. I was immediately taken with it, the imagery sparked my imagination and I understand why a viewer would make the connection between Untitled (insult I) despite the numerous readings of birth and pregnancy that are not a central focus of my work.

This is a strange time for this to happen. Followers of this blog will know that I have been using literature to inform my practice, often in fits and starts, but always incredibly valuable to my process of idea generating, as well as the development of the female figure and extending her narrative. So to find that some one out there in the internet world had placed the painting next to the written word~this is fascinating to me. It lead to the drawing bellow as I started to pick the poem apart.

*a shot and three stabs in the
bar the mouth bled and a believer begs*

This discovery encouraged me hugely at a time when I was feeling a bit lost n my own practice. Thanks TUDA.