Remembrance: Dispelling Emotions through Art

Contrary to what some people think, being an empath doesn't mean that you can read people's minds. In actuality, it means that you can read people's emotions. This isn't always an easy ability to have, especially when you encounter people who have deep emotional scars of which they are unaware. For this reason, dealing with the world's emotions can be very tiring. However, this ability can also be a gift, both for the empath and for the one emitting the emotion(s). Nothing comforts a person more than having someone who can relate to what they're going through, and as the empath, nothing is more rewarding than knowing that your sensitivity to emotions has helped someone. The trick is to know who appreciates your sensitivity and who exploits it.

Six months after creating my previous mixed media collage, I found myself creating the next one. The difference this time was that I was called upon to make it for someone I didn't know all that well. He was a young guy who I met through the cooperative community in Buffalo. He was a member of the credit union where I worked and I was a member of the food cooperative where he worked, so we got to know each other in small doses by waiting on each other. His demeanor resonated with me because if you stripped away whatever layers of stuff life had dealt him, he seemed to be a genuinely kind, and a fellow sensitive, soul. I naturally gravitate toward people like this because I think the world has an abundance of unkind people. At any rate, at a certain point, his grandfather passed away, and it really hit him. From our brief interactions, I learned who his grandfather was and how much he gave to his family, friends, and community. He touched many people throughout his life, particularly his grandson. It was then that I understood how his grandfather had instilled the qualities of a good person in him. From there, my heart broke, over and over again. So, on the 20th of February 2012, I created:

Remembrance

Unlike my previous work where I began with the background and worked my way forward, with "Remembrance" I began with the centerpiece and worked my out and backward. The figure in the center is a fallen gravestone that I photographed in a cemetery in Binghamton, NY. As I began to think about what to include in this piece, this photograph came to mind as I had always enjoyed it. Everything surrounding the photograph is clippings from magazines, with the background being more of the wallpaper I salvaged from a renovation project.

The contents of "Remembrance" are far less abstract than most of my work, but given the subject matter and the central image I was using, it felt right to create a somewhat traditional memorial for this guy. The theme of the piece, and its title, are self-explanatory. I wrote a few lines on the back of the image  (yep, this was another piece of art to serve as a card for someone) to say that it's important to remember because so long as he remembered the good person his grandfather was, the gifts he instilled in him will live on forever. When I gave the card to him, I told him that even though I didn't know him all that well, I made this for him because I was so moved by the honor that he held for his grandfather.

Soon thereafter, he stopped working at the food cooperative, and with me no longer working at the credit union, our interactions are over. I believe that I encountered him when I did so that I could give this gift to him. Honestly, it was a gift for me, too. Not only was it more practice creating artwork, but I learned that simply by empathizing to the degree which I do, I create artwork as a way to dispel emotions that are brewing in this empathic soul of mine. Understanding that exchange, along with this collage to show for it, I can say that, yes, being an empath truly is a gift. 

Featured in this post: Remembrance
All current artwork can be found in my profile at Fine Art America. Thank you for your time and your support.