Inner Gate

n this print I show a man turned in on himself — or rather, gathered inside himself. There are moments when we have to stop and give ourselves a while to think about the life we have lived so far. For him, that moment is a good one. Calm comes off him. Perhaps he has lived it well.

His hands rise and meet above his chest like the vault over a gateway. He is not closing himself off — he is opening a way in. The gate stands open, and he invites us through it. Let's go in. We will be safe there.

This is the human figure as I use it: simplified, flattened, the proportions carrying feeling rather than likeness. The red presses in from every side and the decorative border holds him — but this frame is one he has built himself, from the inside.

From the series Within Certain Frames. A linocut in a limited edition, signed.

Jolanta