Lotus of Another Color was the book sent to me in the mail. A knife slashed the cover and
the first twenty pages. After reading some of essays and poems I decided on using the
lotus image from the title. I inserted eleven petals made out of aluminum foil to evoke the
shape and form of the lotus. A powerful symbol used in many great Asian cultures, to
depict life, death, rebirth and the reproductive powers of nature, it shares the same exalted
position as the rose in the West. I used the reflective surface of the aluminum foil to
directly engage the viewer with its sparkle and radiance and how paradoxically it denies
access below its surface. The eleven petals are employed symbolically to depict a sin or
transgression, with ten being the perfect number and the law, and eleven representing the
exceeding of both. My foil lotus is grafted to these pages as a symbol of their unfolding
wisdom. Cutting destroyed the flower yet the plant survives. So too these words will rise
up again and again out of the cold dark waters to bloom.
Previous
