When I was very young, I heard an album that changed my life. It was a John Mayall album called The Blues Alone. One of the tracks on the album got to me so much that for the rest of my life it stayed in my head often on repeat. It took me a lifetime to find the album again - not in vinyl, but finally in CD and then later in digital format. Today I find it on youtube. This song started it all for me - my lifetime love of blues and soul and jazz. My worship of the dark and the broken. And my journey to find my wings. I gave years of my life, but finally here I am, with my book, Broken Wings. Thank you so much John Mayall. The poem that I wrote titled Broken Wings features in the book and is accompanied by the self portrait that was featured on the home page of RedBubble and also won numerous awards for its stark simplicity and emotive power.
As a prelude to the auction for the book BROKEN WINGS on facebook on February 14, I am going to give you all a little history.
https://www.facebook.com/events/248531611990395/?notif_t=plan_user_joined IN 2005 I joined an art site called redbubble. It was a fledgling site first started in Melbourne Australia and at that time I was just starting to explore the internet in terms of gaining greater exposure for my art. Life happened and I forgot all about the site until 2007. Not remembering my previous alias, I rejoined under my now business name of fullcirclemandalas. http://www.redbubble.com/people/fullcirclemandalas Thus began a long and creative and amazing journey in which I discovered the power of community and connection in cyberspace. A connection which continues to this day in the form of many wonderful, talented and special people who I'm proud to call my friends. They encouraged and supported me, not just in my fine art but also in developing my passion - photography. Not just any photography either. I found my niche with a point and shoot digital camera and took a series of photographs which today remain some of the most popular on the site, although I am no longer active there. http://www.redbubble.com/people/awdigitaldreams One of my photographs, Broken Wings, taken with that little point and shoot camera, was featured on the home page. Another of my self portraits, The Weight of the World, was also featured - a virtually unprecedented feature in that it was a semi nude shot. It was also taken with that little point and shoot camera. Gradually I stepped up into the world of the DSLR and my last shot, the Naked Truth, was a milestone in my self portraiture journey. I had begun with self portraiture because I couldn't afford to pay a model. And because I had serious body image and self esteem issues. Really serious. And I discovered that, in the art of taking my own image, I changed the image I held in my head - the one I have carried all my life - the one that made me so unhappy. I also began writing again. I have always been a poet. And so I started another portfolio dedicated solely to expressing myself in the written word and discovered that other people liked what I wrote. Many of those poems were published and while today I am not so prolific, I still write. I still exorcise demons through the written word. http://www.redbubble.com/people/maggiesummers The accolades, the praise, the support AND the criticism in those days shaped my photography. They also shaped me and helped me step out of the dark and into the light of being. Thus 'Broken Wings', the book, is a summary of those days in redbubble and a tribute to ALL the people who helped and supported, nurtured and encouraged, abused and vilified me and above all, gave me the gift of their friendship - friendships which continue and grow to this day. Thank you all my beautiful friends for helping make my dream a reality and my reality a fabulous place to be . Annie Kriss Jules MaxO Peter David TK Tracey ToTs (in memoriam) Gav joak midzi Donna Tammy Autumn Jamie Di Jewels Lenny (in memoriam - I miss you so much my friend) Mojca Simone Shanina Lois Sophie Trish Paul Harmeet Charlie Lina Heather Paul Michele TKR Billy Gavin Allan Mark Trudi Roy PLV Dale Jan Judy Iain Jed Shelley Von Anita Strawbs Vicki Soaps Andrew Bear Mikey Heather And to all of you who I've probably missed on this, my honour roll - THANK YOU FROM MY HEART TO YOURS! Love and Blessings "Broken Wings" is a collection of my published poetry and imagery - it is a journey into the dark and is not for the faint hearted.
But there is more to this deeply black book than a collection of powerfully emotional poetry and brutally honest self portraiture. This is the journey of one woman through deep pain towards the light of wholeness. It is the way I worked through my very profound body and self esteem issues towards a more healthy acceptance of myself as I am today and a way in which I used the camera to portray my ageing in a very positive light. I used self portraiture as a way of working through the incredibly negative beliefs I had about myself and my body issues and I wrote cathartic poetry at the same time to exorcise the pain in my mind and heart. The culmination of this process over approximately 5 years led to a collection of published poetry and a series of graphic, stark and powerful images. My photography has been compared to that of Leonard Nimoys extraordinary Full Body Project which was an incredible honour as I admire his work immensely. I had this book published so that I could see in print what I had achieved and accomplished. There are only two of these proof editions and I am wanting one other lucky person to own one so I am holding an auction on Facebook and will be announcing the event shortly! Pop on over to my FACEBOOK PAGE and check it out! If you would like to be the owner of this rare and powerful book, then come join in the bidding! There will never be another opportunity to own this creation in this form. It's been an emotionally painful weekend, compounded with the hot weather from last week, a full moon and the knowledge that in six weeks I will be moving from this house that has sheltered me for ten and a half years.
I finished The White Goddess Mandala today. It was a cathartic and deeply moving journey as this is the last mandala I will paint in this house. The White Goddess is the penultimate goddess - she who is all goddesses and yet unique. So symbolic. We are one and yet we are many. And yet, like a snowflake we are individual, unique - we are who we are, whoever that is. Yet many of us can form a perfect storm. Thousands of us can change the world. And like water, we flow. As a snowflake melts it becomes water. Water evaporates and rises to the heavens and then is crystalised and the cycle starts again. Solid, liquid, gaseous - water changes and is never the same. Thus the mandala reflects our lives. The symmetry and beauty that is change. I have journey far in the space given to me in this house. I have come a long long way from the broken, sick and shattered woman I was when I moved here all those years ago. But I am whole again and with great thanks and gratitude I am moving forward to a new life and a whole new way of being. The White Goddess reflects my journey. She has protected me, travelled with me, taken me down paths I would never consciously chosen to walk but in doing so I have found my way to peace and healing. May you find your way, too. May the White Goddess walk with you in all your lifes journey. Blessed Be In love and light Marg January 2014 Today I felt the need to draw a card. It's so hot today and Victoria is burning everywhere. Summer in Australia....
The card reflects the heat and the fire, featuring the sun at it's heart and pushing that power out towards the outer boundaries. Sea Eagle Dreaming is one of my personal mandalas, a journey mandala painted when I was going through a particularly rough and painful time in my life, dealing with clinical depression and the tragic death of my husband. The painting came about as the result of a dream (which later came to be the way I paint all my mandalas) in which I was standing on a beach and I began to twirl in a circle, arms outspread. And as I twirled and whirled my arms lengthened and grew feathers and I gradually turned into a sea eagle and soared into the heavens. I could still see my human body twirling on the sand, but I was free. It's all about finding that place in which you can transform yourself and set your self free. It's letting the light into your heart as you open your inner ears to the knowledge and wisdom that lies within. Manifest your dream. Fly higher. Love and blessings. Marg |