i haven't talked much about d'tharashk xena being with us because she's been happy to keep to herself
or happy to keep her head down while and after we upended the power structure of a sizable port town three days ago
both are valid
she expressed both gratitude and relief when we reunited her with her family
we all shared conversation about our journey and their home and current events in breland
all except me because my attention was elsewhere
art on the wall
"how i felt when i heard"
canvas half-covered by a slashed piece of brelish military sash roughly sewn together in yarn the color of fresh blood
paint splatters of the same red hue
small swatches of bright green and deep purple that seem oddly familiar somehow
a multiple-media piece by the artist "ekuruk" who survived a terrible battle during the war called the "yarrowfield massacre" – the inspiration for the piece
the style was so unique that i had to know more
i learned that the "droaam irregulars" were the soldiers breland brought in to pad their front lines with what they considered to be expendable monsters ... often by promising them boons once the war was over
when it became clear that most of these boons would go unrewarded the irregulars decided to turn on breland
except for the "yarrowfield rearguard" unit who stayed on the brelish side ... so the other units attacked them and most of the rearguard didn't survive
i wanted to know more about the artist so we went to the "central gallery" which is a museum with plenty of work from many artists
including statues that are actually models who volunteer to pose and be temporarily turned to stone by gorgons as part of the art piece
a different sort of self-as-sculpture i suppose
i have complex feelings about it so it definitely qualifies as art
there was so much else to see there but the ekuruk exhibit was my main interest
from ekuruk there are more multiple-media pieces in a similar style to "how i felt" with names ranging from a couple nonsense syllables to a rambling paragraph
such passionate self-expression!
the central piece is a canvas of mostly yellow with touches of orange and red... similarly slashed and stitched back together in red yarn with splotches of green along with the image of a bloodied spear
most startling is that the piece is titled "one more head in the bag"
that phrase is a very common pony expression that refers to exhaustion and cabbages and the resigned acceptance of just a little more to carry
that's when i finally put it all together
the name of the unit reminded me of yarrowfield castle back home
the familiar title of the piece
and the yellow and orange colors which were my grandmother's coat and mane colors
i needed to ask the artist if the piece was inspired by signal flare and what the circumstances were
unfortunately ekuruk has passed but the curator suggested we visit her partner to learn more about her work
on the way we saw the opposite of the voluntary statues from earlier
the "wicked garden" is as much prison as art gallery
the prisoners are petrified and presented with statements documenting their crimes and terms of release and all so people can come and see what they did
i have even more complex feelings about this
same medium – very different art!
at the home of the late ekuruk we met her partner "olekem torrn" who was happy to talk about her and her work
she was in the yarrowfield rearguard at the time of the massacre
signal flare was the one to convince the unit stay on breland's side rather than let the country divest responsibility in them
so the connection between the piece i saw and my grandmother is almost certain—
did she lose her life in that massacre?
did ekuruk commit that moment to the canvas?
we spent some time drinking tea and discussing ekuruk's other art
but the whole time part of my mind was spinning around the possibility that my grandmother fought for what she felt was right only to fall to those who'd previously been on the same side
and what happened to my grand-aunt prim rose?
big questions for great-grand-aunt hellebore