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Allowing the Sadness to Surface

Allowing the sadness to surface, recognising the pain as acknowledgement of my love for my late mother, helps me to heal.

April was always Mum’s month, her birthday and Easter so intertwined that Easter is a tad difficult these days. Luckily for us we have Ruarigh now who is an April baby and my youngest grand son gives me much reason to celebrate.

In the year after Mum died, when things were so bleak and so hard, I photographed roadkill.

roadkill

I made work in response to the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

Plastication

Oiled bird bowl. Image credit. Robin Roberts.

Oiled bird bowl.Kim Foale. Image credit. Robin Roberts.

I met Chris Jordan in Hobart and fangirled at him and showed him the work I made in response to plastic pollution and his images of the dead albatross on Midway Atoll

albatross-chick-4

Dead Albatross Chick Image By Chris Jordan

dead-Albatross-bowl.

Through that meeting I became friends with Dr Jennifer Lavers who gives me plastic pollution that she has removed from the bellies of dead seabirds.

plastic-found-in-the-stomachs-of-3-Flesh-footed-shearwaters.

I put my camera away in the eighteen months after mum died as the images gave me no joy. When it was time to pick up the camera again my photography had changed.

I photographed my husband.

Fisherman

3

I photographed my son

David

 

David.

I tried to photograph my daughter but she hid from my camera or poked her tongue out at me. Except on her wedding day when she was distracted by the man she loves the most.

getting married

I chased eagles

Eagle

and seagulls

seagull

I went hunting dinosaurs

Urban Dinosaur copy

I photographed rubbish on the riverbank and took the rocks I found there home and melted them in my kiln.

a public hanging

I travelled to Kalgoorlie and let the colours of the desert seep into my soul. Reminding me that there was colour still.

train dreams 1

The Super pit confirmed what I knew in my heart.

kalgoorlie Super Pit.

SAMSUNG CAMERA PICTURES

And I made more work

super pit

textured platter

Mud and Ink image by Veronica Foale (8)

Mud and Ink image by Veronica Foale (15)

head

My trees are dying and it is messing with my head. I need to photograph the dying trees and stare into the abyss, but I am avoiding it as their stories are so loud.

Until then I will revisit old images.

Of frogs

dead frog 1

and flowers

tulip series i

once were roses

Of stories told

bitter rose is bitter copy

rock bowl

and of stories untold.
fungi 5

water tank copy

bushfire sky

And through it all I miss my Mother

Mum and Amy

Comments on this entry are closed.

  • Trish April 8, 2016, 12:06 pm

    I’m sorry, we never stop missing the ones we love.
    Your art is quite unique and so are your photos.

  • Elephant's Child April 8, 2016, 1:39 pm

    Heartfelt hugs and oceans of caring.

  • Amanda April 8, 2016, 3:56 pm

    We will miss them always.
    Grief is hard.
    X

  • smarcat April 8, 2016, 9:16 pm

    We never stop missing the ones we love. In time they become part of the fabric of our lives.

  • Melanie mcevoy April 8, 2016, 9:28 pm

    Kim, words don’t always come easy to me especially the ones that truly matter. Your grief has touched me and I hear you and I see you.

  • Michele Hastings April 8, 2016, 10:59 pm

    Loss and grief are such complex emotions that change and shift over time. Thank you for sharing.

  • Katie M Little May 17, 2016, 1:09 pm

    This was the first Mother’s Day I haven’t cried since my Mum got diagnosed with Alzheimer’s and I am finally finding things to laugh about again. Much Love xx

  • edenland May 27, 2016, 12:09 am

    This post is literally exquisite.

    xxx