Artwork Description
Swoon – Oracle Deck: Music Box-The Past
Dimensions: 17 x 11″
Year: 2024
Medium: archival digital print on Moab Entrada 300 gsm
Edition: ed. 1/20
The Music Box holds the power of times past. Of nostalgia and memory. Those objects, scents, and places that transport us to another era, with a twinge of sweetness and a flood of memory. Remembering the past can fill us with longing for a version of ourselves we used to be. A time when the world was juicy and crisp with delight.
When our senses were newly minted and every experience was magnified and bright. For Caelum the nostalgia of the Music Box plucked up a sense of wonder and its song bathed her in a beauty that transported her out of what was unbearable about the Grey House. For the Wee Witch Katarina it was the opposite — the Music Box stirred up memories of a time she tried to forget, and sent her already-tilting mind flying off its axis.
Whether we long for it or we run from it, there’s no denying that the past has a powerful hold on us. So how do you relate to your past? Are there parts of it you pine for? Memories you’ve been avoiding that you wonder if you might finally be ready to confront?
Things you’re stuck on that you’d be better off if you could let go? Sometimes it’s through the processing of our past that we gain access to those more innocent selves, or even to new talents and capacities.
While we sure can’t stay there, and we strive to not let it haunt us, our past can be a fertile ground from which to appreciate who we’ve been, and reflect on who we want to become.
–Swoon