Songbirds: Nature As Metaphor | Paintings by Melissa Bonin

Through the media of visual art and poetry, artist Melissa Bonin explores ancient and universal themes. She uses nature as metaphor to create a personal symbolic language. Her work examines life, death, rebirth, transformation and the intersection between Heaven and Earth. Symbols of land, trees, water, sky, birds and moons, which are accessible to all, are used to link the viewer to the past.

Bonin states: “The minimal bayou paintings are not landscapes; they are journeys. Painted trees serve as portals, and dancing vines and low-lying branches become obstacles which define the path from darkness into light. While birds represent the human soul and eternal life, acting as guides and forecasters… As the link between Heaven and Earth, their flight is a powerful metaphor for freedom and the soul’s journey in pursuit of higher knowledge. Moon and moonlight illuminate the Divine Feminine, while perspective, color, rhythm, and movement are used to draw the viewer in. Guided by this light, the observer is then invited to go deeper, into the water, and into the song of the terrain.

Informed by a multicultural blend of sources, I present perspectives influenced by my French and Acadian ancestry, and the journey of the Great Deportation: refugee to joie de vivre, from deportation to transformation. In honor of the feminine, the work echoes a deep connection to the natural world, a responsibility as guardians of the Earth, human spirit and the song of the terrain and its people.”

This show is presented in partnership with Festivals Acadiens et Créoles

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