Releasing the spirit

Bubby was with Sasha when she died and she felt her spirit leave as Sasha's chest heaved the last time and she no longer saw Sasha in her body. We are not our bodies she said, our smile and nature and those things that make us who we are are in our souls. When her husband died it felt right to donate all the clothes to Goodwill although a daughter asked her how she could give away Daddy's clothes. Bubby passed on Peter Goddard's review of Robin Pacific's "Shelf Portrait" whose installation is designed to give away a large collection of her and her husband Terry McAuliffe's books: "I've kept some things. I gave some things to family and some to Goodwill. The last things I'm giving away are his books. It's as if his mind and psyche were leaving the house." In the words of the Redhead Gallery: "Shelf Portrait is an exhibition that renders an act of generosity into a work of art." What a wonderful act of generosity. Its as if she no longer feared needing to keep his books to be close to his spirit. I would setup a collection next door of Sasha items we cannot conceive of letting go yet. Bubby keeps her fathers keys hanging in her kitchen and together with a pail of copper nails are objects that reconnect her to her father. She recently decided to become an organ donor because although she didn't mind her dead body feeding the earth she thinks the better way is to donate organs that live on and help another soul's body.

Shelf Portraits runs to January 27. The Redhead Gallery is open Wed-Sat 12-5 at 401 Richmond Street West, Suite 115

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