Ayako Furukawa-Leonart
Our easy everyday life that we once took for granted has now been upended by an Invisible, quietly creeping fear of death.
I had an elderly mother in Japan who was at the last chapter of her life.
How can I meet my mother during the coronavirus lockdown?
When I was wondering how my prayers would reach my mother across the Pacific Ocean, I came across this aria, Vide Cor Meum.
The melody turns repeatedly in my ears is sublime. Even though the lyrics presage death, the melody transcends it. And this actuated me to create this drawing. In this way the lyrics become the truth behind the image. This drawing portraits an elderly woman, who is wearing a Noh mask, receives good news from a black bird called Yatagarasu, the messenger of the god. The Noh mask becomes a talisman. As such, it empowers one who wears it.
This drawing is emblematic the demise of fear.
*Vide cor meum (See my heart) is an aria composed by Irish composer Patrick Cassidy based on Dante Alighieri's Vita Nova, specifically on the sonnet A ciascun'alma presa, third chapter.
