I am making an effigy, of Branwen. She is lying in my studio, made of clay, but I will make a mould and cast her in paper and flour glue. Then I will float her out to sea - at 'the Gap'.
My many dreams of drowning, tidal waves and long relationship with 'the Gap' warn me that this is a powerful symbolic act. Someone said....you might upset people who have lost loved ones there. This is not my intention....I want to pay my respects, enact a tribute to appease any lost soul who may linger there. And offer a different and more compassionate view of suicide which many see as a cowardly act.
Have they ever looked down into 'the Gap', and imagined jumping? Of course they have. Doesn't everyone? I am neither condoning nor denouncing suicide, but the pain must be great indeed for someone to overcome the cowardice that most of us feel when we look down into that void. It must require a huge amount of courage to jump.
I know enough about magic to realise that this could heal me....but I want someone to tell me if am I purging my demons or tempting the gods - or both.
sea burial
