So, the screen is nearly fitted together, although sadly if i want to do it properly i need to completely replace the ribbon edging as it’s the kind that tears very easily (and keeps tearing along the same line until there’s none left) which has meant i’ve had to be very careful when trying to fix it to the frame.

But, onto some pictures!

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

essentially it represent the layers of filtering we all put over our lives to make it easier to cope with – I’ve always liked the idea of a bead curtain of cards, and together with the sheer fabric they make a screen the doesn’t actually fully obscure anything.  The fact that it’s a former doctors screen too makes it all the more pleasing – a card reader is someone we tend to see when we have a specific problem, much like a doctor. however, many people find it easier to discuss their problems with a tarot reader,  going into levels of personal detail we’d normally be wary about. But as my own experience showed me, it only puts a filter on reality, it doesn’t actually do anything about your problems.

I came to rely on the cards, and ended up using them any time i needed to make a decision. After reading Derren Browns book ‘Tricks of the Mind’ i decided to give up superstition, from saluting magpies to dealing cards, for a month (with the intention of proving that it does work).  I felt so freed by the lack of ritual that i gave it all up completely and have never regretted it once.

The figures on the panels are (loosely) based in the woodcuts that accompanied the odd books on the supernatural that i’d devour as a teenager:

For me the eeriness of the black and white images was what i found most appealing – and this solid black-or-white image was what i was hoping to explore with the two diptych figures.