MANNER culture
Pain , survival and recovery
Local artist , Lisa MacDonald , recently presented her solo exhibition , ‘ Heart in a Jar ’: a painted exploration of pain , survival and recovery .
Provoked by her own experience as
a chronic pain sufferer and how , through the local Pain Clinic , she found a language to articulate this pain , locate its source and ultimately , heal from it , this exhibition is the culmination of over two years ’ worth of work .
Lisa works half of the week on her own homeware and design business , MollyMac , which she runs with graphic designer Joanne Preston , and half the week as a painter . This collection brings together both Lisa ’ s wealth of experience as an illustrator and her fine art practice .
Boasting 30 to 40 canvases , the artist has constructed myriad worlds , each of which orbit around the central theme of how we as humans strive to find calm amidst the chaos . Fascinated by the idea of ‘ safe spaces ’ and the instinct to compartmentalise and contain feelings which are by their very nature boundless and all-consuming , the work plays with enclosure , fragmentation and release .
Each painting examines interior and exterior spaces which are
" We as humans strive to find calm amidst the chaos ." contained and re-contained before bursting open , unleashing an outpour of what might be love or grief , anxiety or pain . The glass bottles and vases which become a motif running through the collection could well be windows to the soul , or display cases , freezing a more macabre scene in time , suspending it in negative space .
It ’ s this duality which make Lisa ’ s
work so rich and yet so bittersweet . With every chirruping bird , there ’ s a ghostly figure seemingly trapped behind the glass which haunts the scene - have they been imprisoned there against their will or does it just feel safer to keep the outside world out ?
Begun in 2018 , this work may seem prescient in an era where lockdowns and shielding have entered our common parlance , but Lisa ’ s own experiences of chaos and chronic pain illuminate how these dimensions of control and mayhem have been a reality faced by many long before the pandemic hit .
Commenting on this , Lisa said : “ This work started at the end of my journey with the Pain Clinic and whilst this was my personal motivation for making the work , as the idea developed the paintings revealed to me a more universal truth . Everyone has had times in their lives where they ’ ve felt overwhelmed by something they cannot control ; whether that was this year during the Covid lockdown , or during struggles with illness or mental health .
“ Whilst we cannot control everything , this work explores how our ability to control one small part of our lives – a physical location , a relationship , or one aspect of our busy , daily routines – brings us solace in times of upheaval .”
The show was kindly supported by ArtHouse Jersey who provided the exhibition space and seed funding to make the exhibition possible . •
The artist ’ s website can be found at www . lisamacdonaldart . com
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