Sunday, September 1, 2013

THE SEA IS THE LAND'S EDGE ALSO | RIP Seamus Heaney


The Sea is the land's edge also is a line from one of Seamus Heaney's poems (I will hunt out the poem and post it here later). Over the past 30 or so years, I have turned often to his poems, never failing to find solace, inspiration, wisdom there - airborne and waiting. His words have served as prompts for a good many drawings and paintings, many of them exploring the particular potency of liminal spaces, the 'energy of edges'. The very first drawing I exhibited in New Zealand after immigrating to the South Island nearly nineteen years ago carried the line The Sea is the Land's Edge Also as its title. 

I took this series of photographs today after hearing of his passing. . . A great tree has fallen. RIP, Seamus Heaney. You will live on through your words, your voice, your unique way of revealing the world - its beauty, complexity and mystery - to us. 

Arohanui. Kia Kaha.