Introduction
Handpicked: Painting Flowers from 1900 to Today was curated in close discussion with the Kettle’s Yard Community Panel. One member of the Community Panel is artist and performer Jade Pollard-Crowe, who has written two poems in response to the paintings by Alison Watt and David Bomberg in the exhibition. The paintings, and the accompanying poems, show the range of works in the exhibition and the many real and imagined stories that they evoke.
Her body. Soft yet firm like the Rose’s stem;
I almost long for the sharp pain of thorns in her absence;
Just to feel. Something.
She need do nothing to be beautiful. Just exist; exhale; delicate supple petals. Inviting. Am I worthy?
Our blank canvas a sheet of promise, words not yet written and morning promises yet to be whispered.
Captivated by the hedonistic perfume of the rose; my eyes rest upon jutting hip bones before tracing contours of restful shadowy tones;
Inhalation. May I never suffocate your bloom. May you blossom for eternity?
A rose cut from the ground is always gone far too soon //
Flesh tares as a seedling stirs beneath ground;
The shattering eardrums of a thousand men are denied this soft shadow of sound;
A reverberation so faint only Grasshoppers and nesting Bees pause to commemorate the new shoot;
Land offering promise. A promise of a multicoloured life anew, no danger posed. A peaceful timeless synergy between earth; rain clouds; and birds. The cycle always renewed with the sweetest of perfume.
//
I sit with explosive dejection / memories of limbs / stench / carpets of the deepest Maroon;
Stirring in my mind is a restless storm refusing the outstretched hand of lavender’s calm hue / with an agitated gust of red;
A hopeful hopelessness.
//
The perennial nature of flowers continue their cycle offering rest; renewal; and reflective answers in the form of paint. An offer of certainty this pain will fade;
For now, until peace is mine; is ours; I take comfort observing the cycle of life through this vase.
