Beauty in the broken

I first became inspired by Kintsugi when a dear friend of mine took me to see a modern art exhibit in Houston that explored Kintsugi in a novel way — the artist used massively large pieces of ceramics that were broken and then reassembled them back together using gold paint to fuse the pieces together and to fill in any gaps where the pieces “met.” It was fulfilling and pleasing seeing big beautiful broken things put back together and “fixed” again.

It reminded me of so many issues related to broken hearts, broken things, and fixing things.

As I meandered around the exhibition, I heard the lyrics to a song —- “….just one more chip off an already broken heart….” —- and I also thought of my mother who tried to fix ANYTHING that was broken in our house.

The focus we put on things that are broken and the importance of fixing them was not lost on me. I thought, how wonderful that in some sense we could fix something with beauty.

My Kintsugi Hearts series is inspired by the Japanese art of Kintsugi, the practice of repairing broken pottery with metallic gold, and honoring the history of what has been broken — rather than concealing it.

These original hand-painted mixed media ink block prints are symbolic interpretations of the underlying Kintsugi philosophy.

My Kintsugi Hearts feature crimson hearts marked by chips, cracks, and fissures filled in with metallic gold. These gold-filled imperfections are an integral part of each heart’s beauty and serve as a metaphor for human resilience and the ways our wounds, scars, and healing make us stronger, more whole, and ultimately more beautiful.

Each Kintsugi Heart says “There is beauty in the broken.”  

See the whole collection on my Portfolio page.