A Fish's (vicious) Circle

Posted Wednesday 10 October 2012

The image is a surreal and slightly playful metophor pertaining to both feelings of entrapment and hope.  It bears relevance to circumstances or situations, both physical and psychological which are difficult to escape.

The boundaries of where one object becomes another within the image are almost imperceptible. It's hard to identify where the parrots end and the raindrops begin or the end of the raindrops and the beginning of the fish. Even the tree morphs into a cloud without any real warning. As the eye moves around the image in an anti-clockwise motion it reaches the top where the viewer sees the parrot drained of its colour and morphing into raindrops, which fall back down to earth as fish and lead us into another loop of the cycle. 

These imperceptible boundaries symbolise how difficult it can be in life to find an opportunity to introduce change. It's sometimes harder breaking free of old routines or habits than it is to remain in the never-ending cycle. However, the image also illustrates hope and the future as one of the parrots does escape from the loop, leaving the cycle in its full colourful glory and into the clear sky thereby freeing itself and the viewer from the Fish's (vicious) circle.

Steph

You can see more of Steph's work at www.madebysteph.co.uk

Today is World Mental Health Day.

<  Return to mind blog

7 Comments

• Gregory replied on 10 Oct 2012 at 09:58

  Very moving!

• Sharon replied on 10 Oct 2012 at 09:58

  We must be careful not to imply blame, and not to think of mental health problems as bad habits or old routines.

• Pennie replied on 10 Oct 2012 at 12:53

  Brilliant!

• Steph replied on 10 Oct 2012 at 18:37

  Hi Sharon, I understand what you mean. For me the image is really about acknowledging feelings of entrapment and how random and unyielding mental health problems can be.

  Thanks to you all for your comments.

• David replied on 12 Oct 2012 at 16:06

  Please forgive me for asking and I don't mind if you don't display my message, but could you fix the typo in the headline? I'm guessing you mean vicious, which is usually paired with circle, although I suppose you could mean viscous, referring to the thickness of the drops as the parrot morphs into them. Anyway, it would be clearer if you fixed it so the reader knows which you mean.

• Chloe Shalini replied on 12 Oct 2012 at 16:56

  Brilliantly executed piece, Steph, v inspirational & insightful.

• Steph replied on 13 Oct 2012 at 08:53

  Oops! Thank you David - well spotted and you're absolutely right, it does help to understand the piece if the spelling is correct! Rookie error!