Carolyn Kay Chema

in the coal mine, from the ashes considers the ways that the life force of all things, what we might call “spirit”, remains across the borders of mortality realized through the symbol of the bird. This work deals with the deep longing that comes with grief, with spiritual mystery, with the rich wisdom of nature. Throughout human history, birds have often been aspirational figures, reflecting a deeply rooted, primordial desire to quickly and freely traverse distances. Among common themes across time, distance, religious difference, and culture, we see a recurring idea that birds have the ability, either literally or metaphorically, to communicate with the dead. Birds live in two worlds. They are of the earth and of the heavens. They connect our tangible reality to the outer reaches of imagination and possibility - to the idea that what we have lost may remain, transformed but present. 

The law of conservation of energy states that energy is neither created nor destroyed. We apply this science to our tangible world. Could we imagine that our life force, our soul energy, should abide by the same rules? To consider this possibility, to view a symbol with a legacy of cross-cultural significance as rich as that of the bird, to contemplate our own personal experiences, to observe our environment with reverence, curiosity, and openmindedness towards the unknown -- to participate in these actions invites meditations that could move us towards our own highest truths. Ones that may invite us closer to the invisible, to what is lost, and to what remains.