Inside Roya’s Art: 1nce 2he Saw’t
June 28, 2022
Artwork Title:
1nce 2he Saw’t
Artwork Description:
Into the river of time she gazed,
her soul dripping through the sacred mirror inside,
every second coming into herself,
never to be alone again.
Inside This Art:
I do not usually describe my artwork to viewers because I believe in the power of our innate subjective reactions. Each of us is different, and the archetypal symbolic nature of my art tells a different story to each of us depending on where we are in life when we look into it. That being said, so many people ask me what it means that I thought I would give a look into the types of meaning I embed into my artwork for this one!
Before we begin with the art itself, I will describe the title: “1nce 2he Saw’t”. This is spoken as “Once she sought” and is a shortening of “What once she sought, now is found”. To enrich this with the symbolic meaning of the artwork, the 1 and 2 were used to reference that what once was a woman who felt alone in the world, now exists as two women via introspection, with one being the soul. The shortening of “Sought” to “Saw’t” refers to this seeing, as a contraction of “Saw it” holding now the double meaning of seeing and searching, and moreover to have found what she was looking for.
OK, as for the art, let’s start with the figure(s). Firstly, this gorgeous form is loosely based off of my beautiful friend Golshifteh, who I adore. She is such a strong and beautiful woman, who has done a lot of inner work and she inspires me to do the same. The women in this artwork are shown nude, which is a major thematic cue used in my artwork. To me, nudity is a powerful representation of our natural state as humans. We are all born nude and of course there is much controversy over the meaning of nudity in today’s society which I aim to overcome by always showing that our nude form is not explicit or sexualized, but is in fact a powerful place of acceptance of our selves and of each other and the beauty and power of the naked human body. Sisterhood and women lifting each other up is another constant theme in my artworks as a metaphor for women’s rights and the role each of us plays in supporting each other to find ourselves and become stronger and more balanced.
At this point in my life, I have been going through a major awakening and turning point, and it continues to result in me looking deep inside myself to uncover my divine nature and glimpse my soul’s longing for the life of my dreams. For this reason, I used the mirror image concept, splitting the form into two. Though she is standing in front of herself or her mirror image, she is looking not at the details of her face or hair (as we may normally do far too often), but instead she is comforted by her own presence and staring into the mysterious liquid dripping from her hands.
Her third eye is open, which is lending her astral sight and bringing a beautiful indigo color to the liquid dripping from her hands. As the mirror represents the woman being united with her soul, her long hair ebbs and flows as if carried down stream in an etheric river. The hair is an antenna and a cooling system for the mind and the brain, and the flowing nature of the hair I often depict is more than just cosmetic, it is a symbol of the divine famine crown and wildness of womanly power and intuition.
In this case, her hair not only extends into the heavens, connecting her to the higher realms of consciousness and the places of becoming, but also comes and wraps around her waist. As it encircles her body around her sacral chakra, it serves to empower her feminine sexuality and inform her creative power, tying in notions of feminine archetypes like The Mother, who gives birth to all humans, and The Creatrix, who lives through the power of her manifestation.
Her hair here also dips into the spinning vortex at the center of the artwork, which depicts both time as a river that flows into itself in a circular fashion, and also the very structure of gravity and of the superstructure of the universe such as our own Milky Way Galaxy.
The symbology here turns to the astronomical and astrological planes, where we have Saturn overhead amidst a dark, vintage night of glowing stars. The styling of the stars I chose is reminiscent of ancient star maps depicting the constellations meant to keep and tell the stories of the generations of men and women. These stars and celestial forms come in three varieties in my painting: circular, 4-sided, and 6-sided. The circular stars represent Oneness. The single sided round form is the strongest shape in the universe and illustrates the truth that we are all one. The four sided stars are symbolic of the human form, the cross, and of the neutral or buddha mind. This number is the knower of truth, and represents being of selfless service to others. Finally, the six sided stars represent the Arcline Body and carry a meaning of sacred space, the power of prayer, and each person’s direct connection to Source.
Saturn itself is one of the strongest archetypes in human history, as one of our celestial neighbors it is so rich with symbolism that I will only scratch the surface in this brief description. Here the strongest connotations are centered around both Saturn as the teacher and keeper of time, and of the powerful awakenings that take place during our life around the “second coming of Saturn”.
This second coming of Saturn takes place as we turn approximately 27-28 years old and have thus then experienced ourselves in relation to Saturn at each position it can take around the sun as it revolves. This represents one Saturnian year, and people around the world experience a significant shift in their lives during the end of their 20’s, especially if they are paying attention and on some sort of spiritual path. This is a period of time I have recently been through myself and it showed me many things that I was unhappy with in my life and gave me the strength to make the changes I needed to in order to walk the path of my truth.
As Saturn brings the enormity of the universe into the confines of its rings, via the stars, it mulches eons of wisdom into timeframes consistent with a human lifetime, and thus becomes our keeper of time. And as this wisdom of time flows out of Saturn, it informs this woman as to her place along her Soul’s journey in this life. Understanding where we are according to our Soul’s journey is a much deeper level of self awareness than simply knowing where we want to end up. It implies that we can see the stories of our past and the circumstances of our present in the context of our overarching destiny.
When we awaken our intuition to be able to comprehend and navigate this mystical aspect of a divine lifetime on Earth, we are able to live beyond the mental and emotional roller coaster laid out before us. The calm look on her face is showing that though she is grasping some of the most important arcane and important mysteries of life, she is comforted and empowered to look into her own truth neutrally and beyond the ego drama associated with lesser or ungrounded awakenings. The power of this transformation is shown as the bright and beautiful shape of the white area of the sky created by the connection of the two forms as woven by the archetype of The Wise Woman who has integrated her own stories into the larger meaning of life.
Saturn stares down as an eyeball fixed on this process of time, the soul’s journey and moving from darkness to light. As the eye of Saturn slowly drips, it is representative again of the third eye, which informs the depths of our consciousness beyond the visible spectrum into the astral and other planes of existence. This is to say, that there is so much going on which we as humans cannot perceive directly unless we have done huge amounts of inner work, and even then we can barely grasp at the divine mystery of life.
And yet, we can take what is given to us by the grace of our life, and through gratitude and appreciation, experience the most beautiful synchronicities, relationships, and accomplishments. We are here to be human, we are here to fix our frequencies and define ourselves amidst the backdrop of shared experience and the universe at large.
Once we take a look in the mirror of the soul, we will never be alone and our lives will blossom and bloom into the living dreamlike manifestations of our destined purpose and greatest enjoyment. All we need to do is be present and continue to take that next step towards our awakening. The human condition is at a critical stage right now, and only each individual’s dedication to inner work can create real change. Beyond blame, beyond external factors, beyond our need to control, lies the truth.
Be the change.
-Roya