Vessel

Across ancient mythology, blindness is linked to divinity, where spiritual knowing exists outside of worldly perception and to lose sight is to become attuned to this otherworld of heightened, even extrasensory, perception. The Fates, one of which is often depicted as blind (the others being tongueless and eyeless in turn), sacrificed their earthly senses in exchange for a knowing of the divine plan. Indeed there is a common thread amongst ancient tales wherein blindness is the pound of flesh paid for the powers of premonition. Be it Tiresias who was gifted with foresight for his loss, or Phineas who was cursed with it for revealing too much of what he’d prophesied - the link between the heavens and the domain of the eye is not only inextricable, it is undeniable. The piece “Vessel” highlights the somewhat disturbing connection that exists between a truly fragile organ and the sometimes brutal judgment of god. The image of blindness is not often explored and yet it is such a powerful one - both visually and historically by virtue of the stories we pass down from generation-to-generation. It is my hope that the work pays reverence not only to an allegorical tool, but to the many disabled people I know to be blessed with a deeper insight.