Inspire 52 - Week 23. The Paper Forest and The Meaning of Life

I must be honest with you ... This week I have been completely exhausted. It is like a the big come down after the final curtain call, only weirder because it's actually only just begun! But I think achieving the conception and delivery of Adventures Into The Monochronium exhibition was a pretty big thing for me ... My friend said it was like giving birth! I guess in some kind of way it was; I have given every spare ounce of energy to this piece of work and put glimpses of my soul out there to the world, so yes, I can say... I do feel proud of what I have achieved in this exhibition.

 

 

This is a journey that I thought would mainly be an artistic demonstration for the viewer, but is actually absorbing me... I am on this journey ... this is me ... my life. Along the way I am revealing new layers to myself and I guess this is what part of The Paper Forest is about... journey, discovery and finding meaning in one's life ... a purpose.

 

 

Trees thin and tall reaching into the sky

 

 

For many years I have struggled with my sense of purpose, trying to conform to the guidelines society has set out for us all, but never really quite 'getting it'...

 

 

Blackness transcribbling words on trees

 

 

...My sister had a child just over 2 years ago, just after my niece was born and I was holding her in my arms, my sister asked if I now felt that I wanted a baby. I didn't. Her question helped me turn a page in my 'purpose book'. Her purpose was to be a mother physically to her own child ... this is the most important thing for her to achieve in her life, what makes her get up in the morning and give meaning to her being ... for me ... the most important thing I can nurture is my art - It is my purpose.

 

 

The Paper Forest spoke softly to me

And asked me to write my story

 

 

And now is the time for me to write my story, the places I have been and the places I will go. The journey, the discoveries the sense of direction and the being lost on a path ... finding the path ... Untold stories in the folds and curls of white paper ... pictures speaking words and words making images ... The Paper Forest is my story, but it is also yours.

 

The Paper Forest

By Hazel Evans

I stumbled on the crumples that drew me in

taken by the forest and absorbed within

Trees thin and tall reaching into the sky

Thin tall trees speaking tales in time

Enveloping twisting and churning out

Spouting secret stories were all about

Illuminating shapes and scribing sounds

Murmuring roots from the undergrounds

Wonder away, wonder away

Wonder away, drift away,

Deep into the Paper Forest

And play

Whiteness dancing the whispering breeze

Blackness transcribbling words on trees

The Paper Forest spoke softly to me

And asked me to write my story

So I walked the path kissed by leaves

Drawings sang and caressed my sleeves

Dancing into the pictures and the light

Shadows emerged smiling bright

Wonder away, wonder away,

As the trees lead the way

Deep into the Paper Forest

To play

Adventures Into The Monochronium

26th May - 28th July 2012

The Gallery Lighthouse Poole

Exhibition soundtrack available

Poems and songs performed by Hazel Evans with music by Momo:tempo

www.hazelevans.co.uk - online shop coming soon

www.momotempo.co.uk

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The Paper Forest is sponsored by CCM till rolls. The Wardrobe Post Office is sponsored by Dorset Reclaim.