Hijos del Viento

Winter of 1993

When asked: why Ships?

Oil on canvas, 1991-2001 various sizes

 "It is always a great pleasure to navigate on a great ship, for you know it will not perish" Pascal 

It is a symbol of The Voyage in our collective subconscious.

It is the crossing accomplished in life or death by the living or the dead.

In the pacific islands there are myths and religions that imply the use, real or symbolic of the vessel. A vessel to expel demons and disease from the body. A vessel used to reach for the soul or spirit of the ill person. A vessel that transports the soul of the dead to the netherworld.

The vessel that transports the dead is a symbol found in all civilisations and is well known in ancient Egypt where the enormity and poetry of death has always made Pharaoh prepare for death during his lifetime. At the end of the arduous voyage to the underworld, the soul passes many tests, and is now free and can say:

“I have shed that to which I was attached. I have cast to the ground all evil that was within me! O mighty Osiris, I am born, look at me I am born!”

The vessel that leads to this birth also represents the cradle; it represents the sense of mother and womb.  It would be for some, the first real voyage that leads to birth.

In Greek mythology, Caron takes you only to hell. In this case the voyage is one of sadness and loss.

Life is a voyage that is undertaken with many perils. From this point of view, the ship is a symbol of security and makes the existence on these voyages possible. There is great joy and relief at the end of the trip.

The coffin. If death is the first navigator, then, in this mythological hypothesis, it would not be the last voyage, but the first.