Natasha Deonarain on Glass Globe Triptych (1), (2), (3)
Art holds a particular fascination for me although I am by no means a visual artist. Lately, I’ve been drawn to ekphrastic poems and how the poem itself can be likened to staring at a Mona Lisa wherein the viewer finds meaning inside the two-dimensional stillness of a singular moment that is itself simultaneously evolving. In this series of short prose poems, I wanted to reverse the process and imagine a specific piece of art, personalize it, and then commit it to paper as a poem. I wanted to preserve the integrity of the descriptive process without bias. My hope was that the reader (viewer) would be standing right there beside me staring at the same work with the freedom to come to his/her own conclusions.
The story behind this triptych is personal and I’d encourage the reader to first fully develop their own impressions before reading on!
This series describes three people who exist in very different geographical environments. The poems do not reveal to the viewer that each figure is related; however, knowing that adds to the haunting sterility of the relationships depicted. Premonition and fear are common threads woven into and throughout each scene.
In piece (1) which is set by the ocean, the viewer gets the feeling that one figure is completely oblivious to danger while the other simply observes what’s about to happen yet knowingly remains silent to its potential aftereffect (e.g. “One hand shades her eyes”). Children are also involved in two of three globes. They serve as silent witnesses to unforeseen events which are predictable to everyone except the figure who’s about to become a victim. In this sense, the children and the viewer become confidantes, and the viewer is prevented from remaining outside the experience portrayed.
The triptych is meant to be experienced in the order represented. Warnings of impending doom are accompanied by an incremental heightened level of fear. In each globe, the duality of life is contemplated by juxtaposing an organized, relatively affluent lifestyle with an invisible line where chaos and disaster exist in their own right but are not yet visualized.
The implication of this work is that, in the convenient glass globe of our own existences, we seem to still remain blind to the totality of our existence. The viewer can then sympathize with the intentionally limited perspective of each potential victim while simultaneously attaining a coveted objective viewpoint. However, if the viewer chooses to see their own circumstances and, by default, the triptych’s figurines in a holistic sense, he or she may end up like the third figure who easily perceives overwhelming danger but is unable to escape it. At the last moment, this figure directly involves the viewer in her plight. The viewer is then forced to come to a disturbing conclusion and can no longer remain separated from the work. The entire series and its viewers are brought to a different reality where the inner and outer experiences of every figure are represented and where separation no longer applies.