Healing Power of Nature (English)
Gloria C Swain, 2023, acrylic on canvas and nature elements: dried leaves, seashells, and dirt/earth, 76 x 102 cm each
Installation Images
On our right, two large vertical and richly green and blue
textured paintings hung next to each other at a slight angle. On
our left is large black exhibition text titled, “Healing Power
of Nature.” All text is in Anishinaabemowin, English, and French
above a black reader rail with braille and tactile floor
markers.
This painting depicts a vibrant blue green sky behind a large
black hill. In our bottom left hand corner, set into the hill,
are two real red oak leaves. Mixed into the paint of the hill is
real white and cream colored gravel creating a path that leads
up the hill from our lower left corner to the middle right edge.
There we find the black silhouette of a small person leaning on
a cane under a tree, their right arm propped up on their hip,
wearing a brimmed hat. Above the dark hill, the sea green sky is
richly textured by the physicality of the paint, yet the color
is blended so that it all appears to be one sky.
A multi-hued blue painting with a navy blue shape in our lower
right hand corner. On closer inspection it appears to be the
silhouette of a hunched person leaning on a cane, hair pulled
back in a low bun, standing on a small hill. The hues of the sky
are a vibrant deep blue, with pops of sky blue, medium blue and
hints of green throughout. The shapes are very organic and blend
and bleed into each other like the rough edges of moss or lichen
found on a rock. Near the bottom, the paint is extra thick and
textured with broken bits of seashells mixed in with paint.
Audio
My name is Gloria C Swain, and I'm an artist living and working out of Toronto. It was not easy coming to terms with the fact that the worst was yet to come. But art is what comforted me. Art has always been a form of expression and healing for me. Before the lockdowns, I was busy with shows in Toronto, Montreal, and Southern Manitoba.
COVID-19 changed everything. In quarantine, I reminded myself of the importance of self-care, especially my mental health. With lockdowns and closures of art spaces, my one bedroom apartment transformed into an art space. I spent hours drawing, painting, taking self-portraits, and trying to find the inner strength to move forward. Losing friends and not being able to see my grandchildren and losing the freedom to take a walk along the waters near my apartment since the pandemic was challenging.
And living alone as an older person was just a reminder that left me living in fear of something happening and having no one check up on me. Months of loneliness and stress eating impacted my physical and mental health. It became clear to me that lifting myself out of this would take effort, double mask and in isolation is how I was surviving the pandemic and being able to create art was part of that healing journey.
I think back to normal is a long time coming. After all the world has been through with COVID-19. Art continues to be a vehicle to connect humanity. The work, two 30 x 40 canvases that I'm showing in this exhibit reflects how nature helps heal the body, mind, and spirit. The title Healing Power of Nature and, is a mixed media artwork that uses acrylic paints, spray paint, modeling paste, dry flowers, and earth.
I use varnish to secure the work in place because the pieces are available for gentle touch from the viewers. I like for people to embrace my work through touch and also through, by looking at it and meditating to what they see, the colors, and how it makes them feel. As a child facing trauma that I was afraid to speak about meant that walking barefoot through soft, wet grass, kissing the bottom of my feet was all the therapy I needed.
And today, as an older Black woman artist struggling to survive physically, mentally, in dealing with so much pandemic related loss and grief, I find myself walking in the rain without an umbrella. Allowin' the rain drops to kiss my cheeks or remove the salt from the tears. That refreshes my energy. Water has always been a natural way to heal from pain and grief.
Water is life.
Installation Details
Healing Power of Nature features two abstract paintings that incorporate found objects within its composition. This diptych addresses how being outside, walking among the trees, and rediscovering our waterways during the pandemic inspired people to move beyond their grief and towards mental well-being, despite personal and emotional tragedies.
Gloria C Swain (she/her) is an established Black woman visual and performance artist, curator, writer, and social justice activist. She confronts anti-Black racism, violence against Trans people, and homelessness, while also bringing awareness to seniors’ rights, mental health, and ageism through her artistic practice.
About the Artist
A portrait of Gloria C Swain, a senior woman with medium light skin tone
and a short mixed-gray afro, photographed from the waist up. She is
smiling widely at us with her hands folded under her chin. She is
wearing a black short sleeve shirt revealing tattoos on both her arms.
In the background hangs a large abstract painting, by the artist, with
bright blues that match the color of her nail polish.