Riding out of my dreams
2004
Drypoint and etching
Collection of the artist
"As a child, I had many many dreams, always about animals.
There were many difficulties as I grew up, and sleeping gave me comfort and protection, always coming from animals who became my friends. Many horses which look different than what we see in a real horse and most of the animals could speak to me, and there was a lot of magic, so much that sleeping, even if it was sometimes punishment, was a very magical place to be. This is why I started to try to draw what I was dreaming about.
Eventually, I started doing mono-points on Plexiglas. I learned the techniques of engraving and I really enjoy this discipline. Some friends would ask me how I could do hundreds of lines without getting bored. In reality, it was the opposite: the time it takes to make an actual engraving is many hours, and the time I spend doing it allows me to really get into what I am expressing, to really feel the story and to give it all I have.
One particular horse, which was green coloured, would run after me every day on the land, and grab me, and then I would have a lot of difficulty getting away from him. One day, I ran into a house very silently, as a man was sleeping there and if he knew that I was there, he would rape me. I was communicating with the horse who was on the porch of the house, trying to not make any noise. I started barganing with the horse through this glass door, mouthing the words. I would say to him 'Stop running after me. If you stop, I will come and visit you once a day, every day.' 'How will I know it's you?' 'Just by the way I will touch you on your back, you will know it is me.'
He put one of his hooves behind his back, and it reappeared holding a huge bouquet of small flowers in very bright colours. I came out of the house holding the flowers and now we were walking side by side. As we came to the edge of a cliff, we parted. The sun came out, like gold above the two of us. I woke up feeling very good, as I knew that he would stop chasing me, and that I would go back and visit him."
- Alanis Obomsawin
Riding out of my dreams
2004
Drypoint and etching
Collection of the artist
"As a child, I had many many dreams, always about animals.
There were many difficulties as I grew up, and sleeping gave me comfort and protection, always coming from animals who became my friends. Many horses which look different than what we see in a real horse and most of the animals could speak to me, and there was a lot of magic, so much that sleeping, even if it was sometimes punishment, was a very magical place to be. This is why I started to try to draw what I was dreaming about.
Eventually, I started doing mono-points on Plexiglas. I learned the techniques of engraving and I really enjoy this discipline. Some friends would ask me how I could do hundreds of lines without getting bored. In reality, it was the opposite: the time it takes to make an actual engraving is many hours, and the time I spend doing it allows me to really get into what I am expressing, to really feel the story and to give it all I have.
One particular horse, which was green coloured, would run after me every day on the land, and grab me, and then I would have a lot of difficulty getting away from him. One day, I ran into a house very silently, as a man was sleeping there and if he knew that I was there, he would rape me. I was communicating with the horse who was on the porch of the house, trying to not make any noise. I started barganing with the horse through this glass door, mouthing the words. I would say to him 'Stop running after me. If you stop, I will come and visit you once a day, every day.' 'How will I know it's you?' 'Just by the way I will touch you on your back, you will know it is me.'
He put one of his hooves behind his back, and it reappeared holding a huge bouquet of small flowers in very bright colours. I came out of the house holding the flowers and now we were walking side by side. As we came to the edge of a cliff, we parted. The sun came out, like gold above the two of us. I woke up feeling very good, as I knew that he would stop chasing me, and that I would go back and visit him."
- Alanis Obomsawin