Comfort

Life is difficult, which is why it should be no surprise that the lament is one of the oldest forms of expression. Passionate demonstrations of grief take many forms and cut across cultures. The first recorded lament is Sumer and Ur, a Mesopotamian dirge penned more than 4,000 years ago.  Laments also appear in Greek classics like the Iliad and the Odyssey, the Hindu Vedas and the Jewish Tanakh (Christian Old Testament). These laments often take the form of poetry or music and in addition to expressing deep sorrow can be used to convey anger or protest over life’s injustices.  In the book of Psalms, for example, the laments often take the form of an individual or communal complaint that concludes with an appeal for divine intervention. Being of Scottish decent I am particularly interested and moved by piobaireachd — instrumental laments or “art music” tied to the Scottish Highlands and played with the bagpipes.

The notion that a lament does not require words and can be so powerfully expressed with tones that emanate from a particular instrument is inexplicable. This peculiar power is no doubt why the bagpipes are often played at memorial services or funerals and rarely at weddings. Personally, I have always been deeply moved by this music. Even at a very young age, before I understood my heritage or the origins of the music played on the bagpipes, it seemed to penetrate my soul.  Perhaps it is a genetic phenomenon. The non-verbal lament was the inspiration for a series of word-paintings logged into my visual journal — one is shown here. The text that appears in this work is powerful and important. However, my intention was to create a work that visually expressed my lament without relying on the viewer’s opinion of the cloaked and fragmented text. There is something strangely comforting in acknowledging that things are not as they should be and to express one’s earnest protest.