Hope

There are a number of things that are common between art and literature, images and words like their capacity to engage, their numbing effects and their revolutionary nature.

When combined or put together words and image, I believe, form a symphony that can both fixate and unsettle. Weaving this short poem with Harleen’s sketch is not just a step towards experimentation but an attempt to let the curves of the image both accentuate and destabilize the poem. The interpretation of the poem when combined with the image lies entirely on the viewer’s perspective, but I see it as an embrace, an embrace of the self, an embrace of the negative space (as Carmela put it) and ultimately an embrace of the optimism that stems from the title of the poem ‘Hope’.

The speaker’s last words in the poem ‘my mother’ lends another visual aspect to the whole project. Is it just then an embrace of the self or can it also be seen as the embracing of the child by its mother, the child enveloped in the mother’s arms, protected, not visible at first glance?

I leave the interpretation to each viewer’s perspective.