Past | Kayleigh Heydon
(Internal) Rivers
17 - 27 June 2021
Kayleigh Heydon, Axiom, 2000 x 1570mm, Acrylic on Cotton Canvas
Cyclical time, a rhythm,
This weighted door opens, shuts.
A language spoken and misunderstood,
This vestibule of understanding,
You can feel yourself again.
Take care,
Your fingertips iced in momentary sadness,
soft blue from an afternoon alone -
Chipped with courage from tasks soaked in irony.
Cyclical time, a hell.
Clouds sink, heavy with feelings;
(They might just sink to hell this time.)
Condensation drips, filtering in to streams and rivers
Morningstar holding your thoughts by the water;
Your (internal) rivers, each notion, gentle to the current
like the petal of a Camelia, against your lips.
Fleshy.
Thorny branches, (hostile beauty).
Take care with your thoughts;
Kiss the blood from your finger.
You can feel yourself again.
- by Kayleigh Heydon
Kayleigh is a multidisciplinary artist from the UK, living and working on Wurundjeri Land.
‘(Internal Rivers)’ is an instinctual and necessary collection. Each work documents the unknotting of specific emotions, a search for clarity in a feeling, and the artist’s untangling of both significant change and slow static days.
A body is heavy with intention. The way they support, hold, pull apart and ache as our environment changes is a consequential response, it is mostly silent, it is what we ask them to do. A constant bounce between joy and despair.
The creation of this work came from the artist’s willingness to let herself flow, to be carried into work that gives way to true feeling – a relinquishing of control and the expectation to resolve conflict. They are a gathering of things both soft and chaotic, hard and beautiful.
Each painting demanded the artist give in and permit her body to work through complicated emotions. The hostile easing to soft in Gentle as Time Falls Apart, the tender cut of colour in It’s Not A Sad Thing moves towards acceptance.
By breaking from the rigid expectations of self, (Internal) Rivers is a reflection of what it means to create from a place of empathy for your own intentions, to be loose, vivid and spontaneous, the artist’s understanding of her own despair and great joy, and how to make and move forward.
Exhibition dates: 15 - 27 June 2021
Exhibition Opening: Thursday 17 June, 6 - 7 pm
E-mail info@no-vacancy.com.au for all enquiries
Art Money available: 10 payments. 10 months. No interest.