Original oil painting on abs. 44 w x 34 h (unframed).

Painted by Skye with love xxoo.

In my painting Wheel of Life, the goddess figure represents the transformational power of the feminine as both giver and taker of life. She is also the archetypal symbol of love. The power of love is one of the most central themes in western and eastern spiritual philosophies. In rope bondage, I discovered a new and meaningful way to connect with my intimate partner through scene play that intensifies emotions and feelings of pain and pleasure. For this painting, I placed the nude goddess on a Catherine Wheel. A Catherine Wheel was used to torture people during medieval times in Europe. The red ropes binding her body to the wheel represent the earthly limitations of having a human body. It has to be taken care of—fed and given water. The horns of the bull represent the power of the earthly masculine aspects of sexual fertility and virility. The bound goddess on the wheel looks relaxed and unafraid even though the bull’s horns are bloody. Placing her upside down enhances the idea of her being in an altered state. The purpose is to suggest that through my bound, earthly body and the use of pain, I can experience transcendence, union and bliss while I am alive. I do not need to be dead to transcend the earthly limitations of my mind and body. Ariel Glucklich says:

Sacred Pain offers no elixir, of course, only a psychology and neurology carefully applied to the monk and the nun, the novice and initiate, pilgrim and mourner, and those practitioners who voluntarily hurt themselves or others as a matter of religious practice and in service to spiritual goals. They all share one basic fact: No matter what theology or cosmology informs their imaginations, it is a desire for the personal experience of religious ideals that leads them to hurt the body. Experience, more than any doctrine, shows them that pain can make self-transcending realities accessible and vivid.

The message in the painting is life (ecos) combined with love (eros) creates a transcendent experience through bondage ropes and inversion. One can also infer that someone must have tied the goddess to the wheel, and the question provokes the viewer to ask who and why. I want to leave these questions open to my viewer to discover answers. The separate parts of the self become the One Self when both the masculine (bull horns) and feminine (the female figure and the wheel of life) are integrated through self-individuation, altered states of consciousness, or sexual union.

My point of view on bondage is unique since it comes from a feminine perspective in a performance art form almost wholly described by men despite female participation. I view Shibari as a perfect way to convey both the light and dark aspects of the goddess. A bondage scene can be a serious playground where expressing emotion, wild sensuality, and embodied wisdom come together with another person through trust, communication, surrender, and intimate connection. Even though I initially hired models to pose for my goddess deck paintings, I realized I would need to use photos taken of my own body as references for my oil paintings since bondage can be dangerous. I also realized performing and painting my own experiences of being bound in ropes gave me a means for empathically representing my visions and ideas about the dark goddess. So not only could I illustrate the physical beauty of rope ties on my body, I could accurately convey the amount of pressure that rope bondage has on my flesh. Despite the appearance, rope bondage (kinbaku) is a caring, consensual form of erotic play that gives me an opportunity to experience intense emotions and interpersonal connection. The experience has led to my psychological growth and awareness. Every scene I create with my team is different and provides new opportunities for communion and self-knowledge. xxoo