Black Milk I
I was very moved by Anselm Kiefer's painting, Margarete which was based upon Paul Celan's poem, Death Fugue. Black Milk I and II are my response to both Celan's poem and Kiefer's very textured work.
Black Milk I - 100cm x 135cm. Mixed media and collage.
Death Fugue
Paul Celan - 1920-1970
Black Milk 1 and 11
Black milk of daybreak we drink it at sundown
we drink it at noon in the morning we drink it at night
we drink and we drink it
Margarete, who is mentioned in the poem, is a concentration camp guard. I represent her with grasses painted gold. Shulamith is the female version of Solomon, she therefore represents Jewish women whose hair was burned in the death camps. I represent her with black salt and ash.
your golden hair Margarete
your ashen hair Shulamith
The camp commandment has blue eyes represented in the sky. The Star of David lies in the mud beneath the camp chimneys.
He calls out more sweetly play death death is a master from Germany
he calls out more darkly now stroke your strings then as smoke
you will rise in the air”
Excepts from Death Fugue by Paul Celan, translated by Michael Hamburger.
Paul Celan (image subject to copyright)
Anselm Kiefer's painting, Margarete (image subject to copyright)
Black Milk 11
This was my response to Paul Celan’s poem "Death Fugue". Celan's poetry describes his experiences during the Holocaust. He was so traumatised by his experiences he later committed suicide.
Black Milk II - 100cm x 135cm. Mixed media and collage.