L bought this artwork for her husband, B, for his 50th birthday. When I was at her home in Wellington the other day, she talked about how she'd wanted to show me the artwork in the finished room [they're in the middle of renovations] but kindly let me in to their bedroom anyway, and let me take photographs, too.

Instead of being put off by the lack of "done-ness" in the room, my heart skipped a beat. It just seems so right that this artwork, talking about being laid down with a gentle hand, is situated above the bed in a room which is a work-in-progress in a marriage which is a work in progress, too. Because all marriages and relationships and lives are, aren't they? Works in progress.

The light falling across the bed, light made more beautiful by the contrasting shadow. The flowers on the nightshade of what I imagine is "her" side of the bed, because she often wears those flowers in her hair. The pendant made by hand by their lovely 18 year old art-student daughter.

This room tells their story.

Silently, it's walls and objects and, yes the artwork, speak of the life lived here, and the relationship played out. And not just the "good and perfect and public" parts either.

This is what the private rooms in our domestic spaces always do: They tell our story.

Which is exactly why I love having exhibitions in domestic spaces. Because that is what I want to do with my work. Stand up and say,
I am here,
this is who I am.
And I want to say it as fully and deeply as I can.

[ Thanks, L and B for letting me share this. ]

BTW, there are other prints left in the edition of 5 this artwork, so yeah you could have this artwork too, for your own private space. FYI.