She came to me in a dream…no, really! It was one of those dreams that stay with you for ages after you wake – little flashes of imagery that stay vivid whilst the gist of the dream fades but what kept coming back into my mind, involved being underwater but being able to breathe and being surrounded by a schole of fish…fish that started to morph into human like forms and one, which kept swimming near to me and trying to form words, suddenly pointed to what looked like a human foot emerging from it’s tail. And then, I swam up to the surface of consciousness into wakefulness.

That image kept percolating up to the surface for about a week after the dream, so I began sketching out what I saw in my minds eye. Many sketches and drafts later, this image emerged. No reference images…no AI fakery (not that I ever would use AI to substitute for authentic imagination)…just my wobbly sketches, which grew into a preliminary painting on paper and eventually developed into this digital rendering, taking inspiration from Gustave Klimt’s water serpents.  During the development of this work, it caused me to reflect on the legend of the mermaid and the connotations that surround the mythology, particularly in reference to the plight of the woman and how her inherent beauty is often blamed for the downfall of the man.

Within that context, the significance of the foot emerging from the tail became a symbol of freedom as she morphs into a fully fledged human, and her shock at the realisation is possibly the most powerful aspect of this work.

What are your thoughts?

All prints are professionally produced museum-quality giclée reproductions of original artworks by Christine Gallagher.

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