Wood and Water Work: A Spotlight on the Visual Art of Sima Flower
What do chocolate sprites and blue goddesses donning electric dred locks have to healing? Everything. Sima Flower, of Atlanta, utilizes wood, found objects, dry wall, canvas, paint, and spirit to tell the stories of girls and women on the path of wholistic healing. Flower's subjects are full of light and beauty. Their regal nature actually lifts them off the page, the canvas, out of the carved wood. These sistas are and do fly!
What happens in the space of connection? Meditation. What happens in the space of meditation? Connection. In Flower's piece, the cycle of life, viewers experience etheral meditating women harnessing the power of connection as meditation. Each individually engaged in her on pursuit for peace connects to her sister. It seems as if through this connection the tribe of women float. Perhaps, Flower wants her viewers to meditate on the power of connection in order to experience the freedom that sisterhood generates. (above)
the pink full moon and the wolf who saved my life by Sima Flower. (above)
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In the infinite reach of her tendrils, this electric goddess pulls viewers close. Questions emerge. Is she inside the matrix? Is she beyond it? Does she reside in a rain forest? Does she strum an electric guitar. This piece, green goddess, features the iconic wink Flower replicates in a good portion of her work. Part rocker chick, part rain forest rasta mama, the subject of the piece offers a stillness in the midst of the wind and rain blowing her locs. She reminds her audience no matter how tumultous the journey, their is safety and beauty in stillness. It is perhaps here, where we find true respite and peace. (above)
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mother and sun child by Sima Flower. (above)
water puzzel web by Sima Flower. (above)
In honor of yusef, by Sima Flower, is an instant collectors item. This piece, could be described as a narrative-in-parts as each element is key to advancing the puzzel's full story. Perhaps, this work, as in much of Flower's collection, is about the intersections, overlaps, and interconnectedness of human experiences. Each moment is complete unto itself, yet a critical component of a universal story. Just as the ankh is central to the Earth and the heart beat is central to the drum, so is each indivual's experience central to narrating the human experience. (above)
fly free by Sima Flower. (above)
Listen to Your Soul reminds viewers that though the eyes see the soul knows. Flower's subject is still yet travelling deeper to a more expansive understanding of her divine self. Her purple locs form a halo that hints to the sun setting behind her. The yellow of her necklace in tandem with the yellow and red of the landscape poetically pulse a warm glowing light around the woman. "Listen to your soul" tagged to the right is a declaration from the bare chested woman, partially naked and basking in the warmth of balance and joy. (above)
