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

Painted by Skye with love xxoo.

As soon as I think I have my identity and life figured out, a new challenge emerges. If I survive the ordeal, I become a more empowered individual. My painting Spiritual Inversion represents the integration of the light and dark aspects of the divine feminine in union with the masculine. For me, this painting is a joyous act of surrender into the earthly human limitations of pain felt in the body. I transcend the pain of the rope binds into an ecstatic otherworldly oneness that dissolves human existence. The performance and the resulting painting are symbolically healing the psychological separation I feel in a human body when I forget my connection with the transcendent nature of my own existence.

The painting’s centered composition heightens the luminosity and importance of the figure through the use of chiaroscuro. My figure is bound from toe to head with red rope to symbolize life force energy and blood. The hanging body is still so that the viewer does not know if she is dead or alive or between life and death. Intuitively, the viewer may realize an inversion pose is dangerous. When I was performing this pose, I was inverted for at least eight minutes and went into an altered state of consciousness, the moment when the pain of being bound was transcended and I became a spiritual being in a human body.

I have discovered through my research there is a universal perspective that integrates both god and goddess within men and women. Much is already known about the masculine aspects of god. Very little is known about the feminine aspects of goddess. I believe the path forward is learning universal truths about the goddess to better understand ourselves and each other. If I had not questioned my own self-identity and instead stayed within the narrowly defined cultural and religious beliefs of my own tribe, I would have remained confused about my feminine power as a woman. xxoo