Gandhi Bandages

I started hypnotherapy four years ago and became familiar with the inner voice that pilots one through life. The hypnotic dreams were confusing and at times chaotic but I was lucky enough to have Gandhi as my guide through the mayhem.
A few years ago, I visited my aunt at an old people’s home just before she turned ninety and she showed me a watercolor of Gandhiji that she had painted in the home.
I was so very impressed by her spontaneous style and took a photograph of her, proudly holding her work.
I liked the painting so much, that this year I asked her if I could have it and she graciously offered it to me.
Looking at it, I thought to my self why not do one of my own? if she can do it why shouldn’t I?
Using water-colour for the first time was a challenge.
I promised myself not to give up on the path and persist in the venture.
Self-criticism, a sense of shame, doubt, fear of what others will think became part and parcel of this journey.
I made 18 portraits of Gandhi. None looked like him but the process was enriching.
It seemed that by doing these awkward drawings, I was trying to get closer to him and his message of life, which I tried to apply in my own daily life, perhaps just as awkwardly as I have done in these watercolors.
Through this process, I faced my inner wounds, and each day, on a more mysterious level, I felt that by having him present in my daily life with his images and messages, the scars were healing one by one…