“Who needs courage?” Embroidery on rubber and found objects, 2014/5 (photo credit: Dejavu Photography)

A lion-finger-puppet was the inspiration for this piece.  The finger-puppet belonged to my 4 year old son, and   I figured that since he doesn’t play with it, I might as well use it.  So the actual toy is stitched onto the rubber. Boy was he upset!! but we’ve reached and agreement of sorts …(strange – as soon as they see that mother is having fun with their toys, only then do they want to start playing with it!)

Anyway, so a lion represents courage to me, surely because of the Wizard of Oz story:

The Cowardly Lion is a character in the fictional Land of Oz created by American author L. Frank Baum.^[1] He is an African Lion, but he speaks and interacts with humans.

Since lions are supposed to be “The Kings of Beasts,” the Cowardly Lion believes that his fear makes him inadequate. He does not understand that courage means acting in the face of fear, which he does frequently. Only during the after effects of the Wizard’s gift, when he is under the influence of an unknown liquid substance that the Wizard orders him to drink (perhaps gin) is he not filled with fear. He argues that the courage from the Wizard is only temporary, although he continues to do brave deeds while openly and embarrassedly fearful. (wikipedia)

In a sense I needed some courage for this piece above, because it was the first time I experimented with combining a little bit of oil paint & thread on rubber.

I found this quote recently (wish I could remember where)….

“Courage is to tell the story of who you are with your whole heart!”

love that!

(*This work: Who needs courage?” will be on show during my 6th Solo exhibition #Crossmyheart at the Erdmann Contemporary Gallery in Cape Town. Opening on the 10th of February 2015- hope to see you there…)