The Stories of the Chakras
2009–2011
In late 2009, I decided to create a series of paintings inspired by the seven chakras. At the time, I knew little about each chakra, its specific physical location in the body, and its corresponding set of energetic qualities, but I was curious to learn more. A shoulder injury from the previous year limited how much time I could spend painting, so I learned the value of stepping away from, rather than overworking a painting (a tendency which had led to the injury in the first place.)
I chose to experience the chakras on multiple sensory levels, through yoga, music, Reiki (energetic work), study, and artistic exploration. I allowed the themes of each chakra to guide me, as each has a color, an element, an animal (all but the seventh), and a series of qualities associated with it. (You’ll see these themes in the write-up beneath each painting.) Based on what I gleaned from my study, engagement, and contemplation, I set out to tell a story for each chakra. It was important to me that each painting stand alone as a work of art as well, a piece of beauty and a touchstone into the viewer’s inner world.
The Sanskrit word ‘chakra’ translates as wheel or disk, a well-chosen definition since the chakras spin at various speeds depending on certain internal and external factors. Half way through my two-year long exploration of this subject, my own chakra’s wheels began to spin dramatically, an uneasy sensation that felt like whirling vortexes, and lasted for minutes or hours at a time, eliciting great discomfort and awe from every corner of my psyche. It probably isn’t a coincidence that this phenomenon occurred at the heart of my project — after I had completed both the painting and the yoga exercises for the heart chakra.
Entering into this process and completing this project changed me profoundly. In addition to discovering a style and method of painting that truly felt my own, I also experienced some very deep healing, much of which is still rather mysterious to me, but undeniably positive. For those interested in learning more, I recommend Anodea Judith’s book about the chakras, Eastern Body, Western Mind.