DARK REFLECTIONS OF TRUTH

Series: Myths at McConnell Springs
Title: Dark Reflections of Truth
Subtitle: What choices we make: seeming or unseen, known or unknown, look back at us darkly and reflect the Fate we accept or create.

Location: Scene photographed at McConnell Springs Park in Lexington, Kentucky. The subject was photographed in a studio.

Project Dates: September 2020 - March 2022

This pool is a memorial. It's a place of remembrance and reflection, with names and verses inscribed upon the surrounding stones. It made me think of loved ones lost, and the loss of myself over the years of compromises. 

The idea of reflection brought to mind a verse from my childhood, “For now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know fully even as also I was fully known." I Cor. 13:12. For me this verse speaks of a place of perspective, looking to understand ourselves more completely, and recognizing that sometimes the only way we can understand ourselves is by being removed by time, and looking back from another place in our lives. 

For me, the narrative of this scene is about the "adventurer" or protagonist in our story. At the center of the maze, our hero finds the treasure. After navigating so many trials and overcoming ever more difficult obstacles, the adventurer wades into the water searching for the elusive prize. Only then does she truly see her own reflection, dark and changing. She grieves the loss of her past and sheds the burden of her history. She sees clearly the person she is becoming and has the potential to be.  She understands her faults and resolves to embrace or change them with love and care. The treasure itself becomes self-acceptance and a new beginning. 

This is my allegory on the struggle of knowing oneself and accepting our own dark truths. 

Original Created: 2022

Subjects: Fantasy

Materials: Digital

Styles: Fine Art Portraiture

Mediums: Digital

Open Edition Prints are available at Saatchi.