Deborah Campbell

 Flatlanders Art Galleries proudly presents Deborah Campbell in an exhibition of her recent work.

"Nature is a haunted house,Art is a house that wants to be haunted" --- Emily Dickenson

…exploring metaphorical passages through the rooms, looking for familiar faded images, textures and shadowy threads to connect the multi layered past to the seamless present.

Fabric is the perfect medium to explore with, its history is long and it is inextricably part of our experience. Of primary importance to my work are the symbolic properties inherent in cloth. This series of works, Penelope’s Diary, are based on Homer’s mythic poem The Odyssey has been called “The grandest evocation of the journey of everyman”. In this series my work focuses on Penelope, wife of hero Odysseus, and explores the connections between the story of a woman in ancient Greece and her counterparts in the 21st century. I find classical mythology rich with ideas that are relevant to contemporary life. Penelope, the one left behind to mourn, to hope and to carry on with the work of living, serves as an important touchstone across the centuries.

This series had its genesis one morning when I came downstairs to fix breakfast. My breath caught in my throat as I looked at the empty chair at the kitchen table that my daughter had occupied until recently. Beginning her odyssey… and mine, of negotiating the feelings of loss and transition in my role as mother.

Deborah Campbell