New Video Annabel by Kathleen Winter

Just uploaded a new video today! Annabel by Kathleen Winters. 

I'm a little annoyed with myself I never actually included an image of the mother in the piece. Instead I focused more on the father, he is a big feature of the story and definitely has the most negative impact on through his actions to control the situation based on his personal beliefs of what is normal and orderly.

The mother Jacinta however was more willing to accept her child for whatever person (even a little biased towards being raised a girl) but is weaker in challenging her partner Treadway. 

she says 

·       I am dishonest. I never tell the truth about anything important. And as a result, there is an ocean inside me of unexpressed truth. My face is a mask, and I have murdered my own daughter p142

     So I'm going to add in a mask either floating or within the water and sew it into the final composition. I also wanted to include some petals as Jacinta's friend Thomasina reflects what her daughter smelt like. Her daughter was called Annabel and that is why it becomes a private nickname for Wayne between the two of them.

·       I’d see my daughter, Annabel. I’d smell the rain on her clothes. She used to sneak up from behind and hug me. Her breath was like cold petals.’ P169

I'm also going to include the outline of a Lotus flower, an owl and a red tailed hawk into the image as well as each of these symbols reflect different metaphores within the book.

The owl provides Treadway with counsel to discuss his conflict with the nature of his child. The Lotus is used to described the hidden layers of Wayne/Annabel's body and soul and the red tailed hawk represents the murderous intentions when Treadyway discovers that Wayne/Annabel was raped. 

I worry that the images could become too littered with symbolism. If I can incorporate them in subtly it can add more depth to the images. It's a difficult balance and I'm unsure if I'm getting there correctly?

Revisiting the text of the book reguarly is important to me because I want to try and incorporate as much of it without actually using words to make the best possible image. Which is a challenge!