Conclusions

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Conclusions
by Dale Copeland, 2010

This one has taken me months to make .. I wanted it to be right. On a little old guillotine there is a skull. I bought it in Kathmandu, lined with Indian silver with gemstones. (I used to threaten the teachers' staffroom that I'd take it to their socials filled with cheese dip, but I never did.) It lifts off - I made the hinges from an old leather belt, and lined the skull with leather from an abandoned leather jacket. Then you see a brass mask. It also is hinged and lined with leather. At last, a book, with a fragment of ceramic doll's face on the cover and with pages collaged and with a written rant, my "conclusions". My thoughts on what's worth doing, what's a rational way to spend a short life. All very self-indulgent, but I like it. We (alone?) put words to life & death. And search for something more. We define ourselves & measure our worth by career, by title By accumulation of skills we say WE ARE & I AM In the absence of meaning We invent a ladder to climb Take definition by title, worth by wealth Perhaps take hope from fairy tales Or solace from words of the long-gone wise If not answers then at least shared questions. Maintain & mend. Preserve while we can. Postpone THE HOUR OF OUR DEATH We 'know' the inevitable, but ..... Such shades of knowing, of accepting SO? So it goes So ... the only rational response: What you can't change Accept. Accept and then enjoy As much as is possible. Dance till they drop you Rejoice while you can.

Dale's studio can be found on Surf Highway, Taranaki, New Zealand

More of her work can be seen on the Virtual TART site at http://virtual.tart.co.nz/Dale

email Dale