Cesca Diebschlag

I had a previous career as a practitioner of traditional Chinese medicine, and am also a practitioner of Zen. This background has opened me to experience the world as process, and to appreciate the primacy of dynamic change and development.

Nature speaks in the language of gesture: opening, rising, falling, closing, grasping, collapsing, scattering… The course of life through the myriad forms of plants is echoed in our own lives, if at a different pace. All life forms seem to display something of the same qualities as they move through the arc of a lifetime: arriving in this world fresh and relatively featureless before gaining in structure and individuality, and then as they traverse the territory of old age, intensifying that structure even as they begin to disintegrate, becoming more colourful even as they fade, becoming more themselves even as they become whole ecosystems. A mature oak comprises over 400 species; less than half of our own cells are genetically our ‘own’, not to mention the traces of other – experiential rather than substantial – influences on us.

The more closely I look, the more the intricate and mysterious nature of life reveals itself. I do not believe in a Creator made in the image of humanity, but if I did, I would wonder what she was on, and would want what she’s having.  My intention in creating these images is to call your attention to the ongoing miracle unfolding all around us.

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I have recently (November 2022) returned from a trip to Hong Kong, where I was captivated by the reflected images in windows, creating a “hall of mirrors” effect.  It struck me that these images, fascinating in their distortions, are a metaphor for the way we see “through a glass darkly”, our perceptions shaped and coloured by our own projections.  And so a new project: “Reflections of Hong Kong” is taking shape.

Locations: South East

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