Walls
Arbitrary Impediments
Walls became an obsession when I went to Berlin in 2010. I followed the path marking where the wall had been. I saw the few remaining sections of the wall. I heard about a couple from East Berlin who walked away from their apartment in 1961 with a picnic basket, hedging their bets that life would be better on the other side. After the wall came down in 1989, they were able to return to see their apartment. Nothing had changed. Their neighbours had moved in, but the furniture and even the pictures on the wall were the same. The wall created a divide in aspiration, potential, security, prosperity, perspective and culture — a divide that was not there before and which more than two decades has not completely erased.
There are several geo-political borders like the former Berlin Wall that are as impenetrable as people can make them: in Western Sahara, Ceuta and Melilla; between India and Bangladesh the US and Mexico, and Israel and the West bank; across Cyprus; Belfast dissected with “defensive architecture.” These are arbitrary lines. They are drawn by the more powerful side. The line dividing Israel from its neighbours, for example, was drawn on a map in green ink by a British official (hence “green line”) with no thought to the consequences for families, neighbours, and communities.
Walls, albeit not in material form, figure in our imaginations and speech: when we struggle to succeed we can feel like we are ‘hitting our heads against a wall’; when someone or something bothers us we say we are being ‘driven up a wall’; when we are excited we are ‘bouncing off the walls’; when something is pervasive it is ‘wall-to-wall’; when we will try everything possible we will ‘go to the wall’; long-distance runners, energy flagging, can ‘hit a wall’.
There is also every kind of emotional wall. The materials of these walls are hurt, fear, depression, depletion, inability to trust, insecurity, self-esteem, injury, misunderstanding.… We build those walls one experience at a time.
The paintings in the Walls series are meditations on the idea of separation, arbitrariness, and emotional distress — our experience of being separated from our people, our land or our deepest desires. I found that I tended to think in terms of release or escape: over,under,through, and around, as well as ladders, flight, windows and doors. I worked at getting the feel of arbitrary separation. I thought about the things that stall our lives in frustration and unrequited dreams, preventing us from any progress at all as surely as a concrete wall. I wondered about the difficulties we encounter as individuals, as communities and even societies as we approach others with good, but misaligned intentions. I painted and I made books. I ruminated and imagined. And maybe with the final panel of ‘Green Lines’, the barbed wire unravelling, I came to a wishful resolution.
Rhonda Harder Epp
2014
Us vs. Them
There are layers of fences and walls in these paintings, as well as windows, doors and ladders. The tomatoes and pears represent different groups who also have things in common. In #1, they are lined up face-to-face, like a stand-off. In #2, they are mixed together. One loses track of the differences, especially between the green tomatoes and the pears. In #3, the groups are separate, not necessarily confrontational, but limited by sticking with their own kind.
Us vs Them 1 // 22 x 24 in (56 x 61 cm) oil on canvas
Us vs Them 2 // 22 x 22 in (56 x 56 cm) oil on canvas
Us vs Them 3 // 22 x 20 in (56 x 51 cm) oil on canvas
One Sky // 30 x 6 in (76 x 15 cm) oil on board
Green Line 1 // 20 x 16 in (51 x 41 cm) oil on board
Green Line 4 // 20 x 16 in (51 x 41 cm) oil on board
Green Line 2 // 20 x 16 in (51 x 41 cm) oil on board
Green Line 5 // 20 x 16 in (51 x 41 cm) oil on board
Green Line 3 // 20 x 16 in (51 x 41 cm) oil on board
Peace Line 1 // 13 x 13 in (33 x 33 cm) oil on canvas
Peace Line 2 // 13 x 13 in (33 x 33 cm) oil on canvas
Peace Lines
Peace lines, the euphemistic term for physical barriers, can go up overnight. They divide people and territory, like the barbed wire in #1. They can also be more subtle, like Peace Line #2, which refers to gated communities and other fences between possibly fractious neighbourhoods.
Good Intentions
Walls and impediments can be built by the layering of mis-information, a blinding sense of right, cultural differences, ignorance, AND many good intentions. While this applies to all of us, there are increased risks of building walls of good intentions in endeavours like international aid programs, mission work, and in governing.
Good Intentions – Under // 13.5 x 14 in (34 x 36 cm) oil on board
Good Intentions – Over // 13.5 x 14 in (34 x 36 cm) oil on board
Wailing Wall 1 // 5 x 10.5 in (12.5 x 26.5 cm) mixed media and acrylic on board
Wailing Wall 2 // 5 x 10.5 in (12.5 x 26.5 cm) mixed media and acrylic on board
Petitions 1 // 18 x 24 in (46 x 61 cm) oil on board
Petitions
When the panels of The Petitions are set side by side, they become a wall. They don’t connect — the graffiti does not line up, the stonework-like features are not continuous — allowing them to be seen as part of a greater whole; something longer, taller and wider.
The tiles don’t carry particular meaning, but are the stuff, maybe even the beauty, of life.
The papers wedged between and around the tiles are the petitions, the things people pray for: for lives to be changed, for lives to be saved, for health, for comfort, for love, for success. These deep desires can be debilitating personal walls; unrequited dreams that cannot be seen past or overcome.
Petitions 2 // 18 x 24 in (46 x 61 cm) oil on board
Petitions 3 // 18 x 24 in (46 x 61 cm) oil on board
Petitions 4 // 18 x 24 in (46 x 61 cm) oil on board
Petitions 5 // 18 x 24 in (46 x 61 cm) oil on board
Chalkboards
The Chalkboard paintings begin with a wall template — over, around or through. Over and Pickets use the template to emphasize the obstacle or boundary. We must…. dwells on the importance of grieving. The stones say ‘we must survive’, ‘we must remember’, and ‘this is important.’ The ornate picture-like frame also lends a sense of importance to remembrance.
The Chalkboards – Over // 26 x 20 in (66 x 51 cm) oil on canvas
The Chalkboards – Pickets // 24 x 26.25 in (61 x 66.5 cm) oil on canvas
The Chalkboards – We Must… // 32 x 42 in (82 x 107 cm) oil on canvas
Ladders & Flight
After months of dwelling on walls that hinder and discourage, I needed to work on images that were more about overcoming difficulties. The ladders, however wobbly and damaged, are clear to see. The dot-like designs refer to feather pattern coloration, hence flight.
Ladders & Flight 1 // 16 x 20 in (41 x 51 cm) oil on canvas board
Ladders & Flight 2 // 16 x 20 in (41 x 51 cm) oil on canvas board
Ladders & Flight 3 // 18 x 24 in (46 x 61 cm) oil on canvas board
Ladders & Flight 4 // 12 x 14 in (30 x 36 cm) oil on canvas board