Hiareth

Oil on canvas

80 x 80 cm

2023

My artwork is called “Hiraeth” (meaning: a homesickness for a home to which you cannot return, a home which maybe never was; the nostalgia, the yearning, the grief for the lost places of your past). 

Hiraeth is related to Italo Calvino’s book Invisible Cities   in that it explores the memory of a visit I had to Venice in 2008.  In the book there is a wonderful quote: 

“Every time I describe a city I am saying something about Venice. Memory’s images, once they are fixed in words, are erased. Perhaps I am afraid of losing Venice all at once, if I speak of it. Or, perhaps, speaking of other cities, I have already lost it, little by little.”

Life is a constant exploration of our memories, and we do this through our imagination and the fragments that remain from moments lived.  The book tells the story of cities through a dialogue between Marco Polo and Kublai Kan much in the same way that I keep a dialogue with my mind as I reflect on my art practice.  

I have a strong attachment to the memory of this particular visit to Venice, it was my second time in this city, it was a turning point in my life. I was about to decide to get married.  There was a yearning on my behalf for the life I would be leaving behind when I would make that decision (I was moving to Norway perhaps indefinitely).  I will be going again to Venice this summer to continue to develop my art practice attending a course.  Being in Venice is always like a dream come true, and in some ways I can say I am looking for a little bit of Venice in every place I visit, as that city holds a very special place in my heart.