bridget martin

Holding a filled journal in my hands provokes a wide range of emotions – relief, joy, sadness, release, hopefulness and peace. The feeling of peace is an interesting one I think and even though I know that it doesn’t mean I’m at peace with myself, it is the effect of an unburdening.

Through the process of painting, collaging, mark making and stitching comes a sense of release that brings a semblance of peace as difficult emotions and thoughts are transferred to the pages. It’s not that those feelings leave my body but that my relationship with them becomes easier. Just like talking to a good friend. This is the unburdening.

My brush, pen, needle and hands become the conduit through which my emotions pass and revealed on the page are worries and regrets, grief and pain, despair and heartache. But also joy and hopefulness, love and gratitude. The journals we create are personal, deeply honest and truthful. They are reflections of moments in time.

Each journal becomes a story told in fragments – glimpsed memories, blurred lines, thought muddles, the edges of dreams. An attempt to make sense of things. There is always chaos and confusion but there are moments of clarity too – moments where the light gets in.

From such simple things as recycled paper and fabric, a little paint and ink, some thread and a pencil, comes something that reveals and releases, offers answers but asks questions and in so doing holds my heart. Filling a journal is not an ending but a beginning. The unburdening opens a door.