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Kilpatrick, Joan-Emotional Flight.jpg

Joan Kilpatrick

Emotional Flight

Airports are vast public places where we become entwined with the intimate emotional journeys of strangers. At Arrivals - excited voices welcome loved ones. At Departures - quiet weeping signals separation, sometimes forever. We are framed by security and surveillance. I am frayed and pulled apart at this emotional crossroads. In my imagination, the red stairways mark difficult life journeys; cloudy skies shroud tear-drenched runways. I feel that I am dissolving and uncertain as I take flight to visit family far away. Can I land in a new place and put down roots?

H" X W": 24 X 24

Kilpatrick, Joan-Illumintion-Bright Poss
Bright

Joan Kilpatrick

Illumination/Bright Possibilities

Airports are modern Crossroads with busy runways that connect us to family and friends across the country and around the world. The pandemic disrupted this easy flow. My roots are in Central Canada; my family has migrated west and now I believe I must choose where my future will thrive. I was feeling stranded in a dark place between airports, confined against a backdrop of rust-dyed memories. Now I imagine that a marvelous crack has opened in my mind, and "that's how the light gets in" (Anthem, Leonard Cohen). Bright possibilities at this Crossroads give me courage to move forward.

H" X W": 67 X 46

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