Final Journey
These pictures portray the journey between mortality and eternal salvation or eternal damnation. It is the beginning of the journey into the afterlife.The Paintings will focus on one individual through each cycle. This is a solitary journey but will be taken in the company of other travellers.
The journey will be made by rail, taking the travellers on independent routes from station to station, from train to train. Occasionally, their paths may cross.
It is not a happy journey nor a sad one. It is a journey of introspection and meditation. Each individual soul will carry with them the essence of their personality the individuals will be varied and, over time, represent a cross section of society. Essentially, two realties will exist in each picture. The reality of the souls and the surreality of the characters that they encounter along their journey.
The premise of the “Journey” is based first of all on the assumption of the existence of an “after life” and the tradition from life to death. In a larger view this takes place in three parts: The act of dying, the transition from life to the after life and the passage beyond the gates of heaven and hell or the “Judgement”.
For now I am working within the second phase. “The Journey” then is taken from the moment of death up to the gates of Judgement. This corridor between eternal salvation and eternal damnation is a type of purgatory. It is represented (in
mortal terms) by a rail line that takes souls to their ultimate destination (Judgement). All souls travel this line. Some make the journey as penitents, others as travellers.
The souls travel from station to station and from train to train on their journey. One may say this represents a time of meditation on their former lives and an adjustment to their new existence. The Journey itself is an allegory of migration and Immigration.
