Crossroad, Pathways and Intersections

Monique Martin

Mixed Media on Canvas

2010

The only thing that we can be certain of in life is change. We are constantly faced with crossroads, pathways and intersections, some large and some small. It is in facing these changes that we can feel fear. This feat may not be of the change but rather of something else that we don’t want to address. Fear can make us mute and immobile forever.

Crossroads make us feel feather light in their freedom and at the same time lead heavy in uncertainty. It is in a farewell of one path that we part with ourselves under the watchful eye of another. This watchful eye of another causes second guessing and a pulling back of certitude.

We never know what is lying in wait around the heart of another that can alter and change our lives sending us on a new road. It is in not knowing that we can become the authors of our own torture garden, the garden of human emotions and relationships within our lives. We allow ourselves to be lured from safety. It is often imagination the “could be” that takes us from the safe zone. However, is the safe zone the only way to exist in this world? Is it not in taking risks that we know that we are alive, that we feel the blood course through our veins.

This series is a change for me. I pushed myself to combine mediums and approach a familiar image in a different way. I felt feather light in the freedom but lead heavy in the fear of failure. I am at a crossroads in my life and the series is an exploration of the changes that have recently occurred in my life.