• Flowers That Grow From Difficult Places

    An Ongoing Paint Sculpture Series
    (E)MERSION, 2025, Claire Lichtenstein & Belinda Ross

    (E)MERSION, 2025

    Claire Lichtenstein & Belinda Ross 24 April - 17 May 2025

     

    This series reflects my personal journey of growth and resilience while serving as beacons for other survivors of gender-based violence. The titles are drawn from my research, my journals, words spoken to me, and lines from songs or poems. Creating these sculptures has been an integral part of my healing process, addressing trauma, conditioning, the idea of love, and the spectrum of abuse. They are both a statement and a reclamation of personal power. Flowers are deeply tied to Ophelia in Hamlet—a character whose story is woven with innocence, beauty, and tragedy. In literature and art, she is often depicted surrounded by flowers, each carrying symbolic meaning. By sculpting flowers from paint, I reshape this narrative, transforming them into powerful, embodied vessels of truth, strength, and renewal. These works are like spells—speaking the truth—both for myself and for others.

  • (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).
    (Larger version of this image opens in a popup).

  • (e)mersion

     

    Immersion | Emotion | Emerging

     

    My name is Claire. I’m an abstract painter living in Wilderness. Wilderness holds memories that are both soothing and raw—a refuge for both joy and pain. It’s a place that has seen me at my most vulnerable, yet it is here that I find strength. As a child, this place was my sanctuary. Now, being back here, it feels as if my past has come full circle, and I am meeting my younger self. Painting has become my second sanctuary. There is freedom in laying down color, letting go of control, and allowing accidents to shape the work. Each brushstroke is a conversation with the past. These colors are more than choices; they are expressions of what I feel beneath the surface. The Lake—like the mother I never had—holds and soothes me. Her waters are a crucible for my rage, allowing me the vulnerability to be courageous. In many ways, Wilderness and painting are mirrors for each other— places where I am free to explore, express, and create. Each holds a piece of my story, and together they bring me closer to discovering who I truly am.

  • Video installation

    As you walk into the dark mausoleum or rather woumb-like enclosure you blink twice to adjust your eyes to the...
    As you walk into the dark mausoleum or rather woumb-like enclosure you blink twice to adjust your eyes to the dark and on your left is a video projection playing a film by the artist.
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