This is based on the second “DA” in the closing of What The Thunder Said, from T.S. Eliot’s The Waste Land, lines 409 to 415.

DA
Dayadhvam: I have heard the key
Turn in the door once and turn once only
We think of the key, each in his prison
thinking of the key, each confirms a prison
Only at nightfall, aethereal rumours
Revive for a moment a broken Coriolanus

Dayadhvam means, roughly, “Sympathize.” Compassion. In context with keys and prisons and nightfall and a broken Coriolanus, I take it to be about the sense of isolation we all feel sometimes, each in our own little prisons. Meanwhile, facism, war, extremism, (as represented by the Coriolanus imagery) and even terrorism have removed our sense of compassion for each other and our ability to unlock each others’ doors.

With that in mind, I pictured… office buildings late at night with people still working in them (indeed, the prisons, though this may very well be a personal interpretation), slave to corporations and autocratic rule.

Mixed media (pigment, marble and clay dust, paste, various glazes) on canvas, 24″ x 48″
2008
Located at: The Beaumont Studios