Midnight Picnic with My Guiding Lights and My Shadow Self
Midnight Picnic with My Guiding Lights and My Shadow Self
This piece depicts my earth-bound self, my shadow self, and my dogs having a midnight picnic. The foods act as offerings to each entity: Grippo’s and Mikesell’s Puffcorn Delites for my dogs, pizza and cookies for my shadow self, pie from Partial to Pie bakery for my earth-bound self. The incense and candles honor this meeting and represent hope that all goes well. Pepito the Chihuahua watches over all of us, descended from his heavenly resting space. Each of us is our own self, but also represents an extension of unraveling my light, shadow, and walking selves.
My dogs bring me a lot of comfort and joy. They are my closest confidants and I spend a lot of time taking care of them, so it feels right to say they are my life’s light. It took some time to envision my shadow self. Books about escapism, mystery, and adventure have always provided a home for me, and furry friends never stop capturing my imagination. Maurice Sendak’s Where the Wild Things Are feels like the perfect crossroad between dogs and adventure, and it informs the visualization of my furry, clawed shadow self.
In addition to ceremony, the picnic is also inspired by a drawing I made in college of sloths lunching, falling into various stages of food comas. That term, most of my classes were lecture-based and I spent a lot of time reading and writing papers for them. While those activities bring me joy, the lack of balance with studio classes meant I was making less work than I was used to. I met my burnout by dedicating time to making a drawing that had no purpose other than to make me feel better. That quest for happiness led to a pen and pencil drawing of sloths sleeping off a big lunch, partially dressed in colorful clothing, grinding Cheesy Poofs into the picnic blanket as they snoozed. It surprised me how many of my friends really liked this drawing. They checked up on Sloth Picnic’s progress and encouraged me, which in turn helped me commit to making work that makes me happy.
This piece illustrates that love and my current preoccupation with breaking bread, reconciling, reveling in the now and all within it. Doing that with myself is a step towards being a more developed person, providing more and being more present. Carl Jung says that we stash unwanted feelings, thoughts, and facets of ourselves into our subconscious, where they end up governing our outer lives and perceptions. Getting acquainted and making peace is necessary. For me, art is a lifelong therapeutic outlet, and I want to use it to create as much good and healing as possible, especially if there are snacks involved.
