Art: ABYSSALES, III, 2020 by Helena Barbbagelata
ghosts of shivalik
girls are taught to lock
their windows, doors
and eyes at night
for ghosts wander
the hostel halls
many think they come
from the cemetery she
was built upon
but the truth is, they
come from nothingness
they come despite it
In the author’s words:
Kulbir Saran is from Surrey, British Columbia, Canada. His poetry has appeared in or is forthcoming from Spillway, Vallum, Rhino Poetry, Eunoia Review, Isthmus Review, Carousel Magazine and Dime Show Review.
About the artist:
Helena Barbagelata (b.1991) is a fashion model, multidisciplinary artist and researcher. She studied philosophy, literature and politics and was the recipient of several awards and fellowships from the Onassis Foundation/University of Athens, University of Barcelona, University of Trieste, among others. She works predominantly in the medium of painting, but includes mixed media in her larger scale installations. Her artworks combine mixed media, acrylics, ink and watercolor techniques and have been exhibited in Europe, South America, Australia and the United States. Helena is also an author and curator in several literary publications. Helena Barbagelata
ABYSSALES, 2020 (Acrylic on canvas, 122cm x 134cm), is a series that examines the concept of abyssal depths and explores the beauty of life’s innermost realms. An abyss is a bottomless space, in ancient Greek mythology, foam and abyss were personified by sea-centaurs in mosaics and sculptures. In ABYSSALES, the sensitive aspect of the sea and its unknown mosaic of abyssopelagic zones joins the limitlessness of space, worming together an open narrative with multiple angles of interpretation, from the emotional to the metapoetic and from social contexts to far-off spiritual and mythical ones, all adding to the complex representation of life with its prism of colors, its ebbs and flows and contrasting tones.