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Requiem for a House
After my mother died four years ago, I became the executrix for her estate.
It was no small task to get six siblings to agree on the details of the
sale of three pieces of real estate with a house on each, the most difficult
of which being the family home of fifty years. Burying our parents had not
been the end of painful tasks for our family.
One day in desperation, I made the comment to a friend that I wished my
mother's grave had been big enough to hold her and all the houses! Upon
making this statement, my friend and I broke into laughter and said
simultaneously, "What a great idea for painting!" This was the beginning of
my series "Requiem for a House".
The small acrylic paintings on paper were first. These little images poured
out of me in a diffusion of emotional energy that had built up during this
trying time. Then followed the graphite drawings. While translating a real
life task into these little images, I realized I was experiencing an inner
process as well. With growing insight, my images became more symbolic and
spiritual. The raven first appeared in an acrylic painting as a symbol of
the frustration I was feeling. But with the raven, I somehow needed the
ladder. I didn't know why until I did some reading about alchemy. The raven
is one of the alchemist's symbols for transformation. With great excitement
I realized what this work was really all about. The raven was my prophet
telling me to climb the ladder to the future. I had used the selling of
houses as an excuse to begin the images. It was, however, my optimism about
the road ahead that was enabling me to complete the series. I was planning
a "requiem" for a house, the vessel, of my childhood. But I was planning the
birth of my new house, i.e. the rest of my life.
You will be pleased to know that the estate is now happily settled and the
whole family is quite busy building the future.
Billie S. Bourgeois