In ‘There is a land called loss” Morris deals with the subject matter of stillbirth, something she went through herself just over a year ago. The very nature of having to go through birth to give life to something that is still is never forgotten. In the upstairs gallery the large scale drawings, made with a fine point ink pen and watercolour collage were created over the last year. They poetically reflect a period of sadness, loss and the hope for new life.

In Morris’s drawings the world that is created is full of intricate detail, rich shading and abstract female figures such as the repeated character of a woman that seems to be balancing on a ball, floating through the landscape. Black and white egg shaped sacks seem to weigh down the figures as they try to lift from the ground through an eerie forest of leafless trees; which in itself is a metaphor for a season of losing life only to grow back again. Some of the figures have fragile egg shapes attached to them as they glide amongst the trees carrying them with ease; others seem to have lost them as they fall in amongst the landscape. The compositions become a tumbling, cascading dreamscape where there is no foreground or background, just a subtly composed black and white field.

Through both an immediate and considered approach Annie Morris’ uses her unique line to capture a world that explores a tragedy of life, love and loss and creates an emotional journey that can only be born through a very traumatic personal experience.

www.pertweeandersongold.com

Above image: detail from ‘There is a Land called loss’ by Annie Morris 2011. Ink, pen and collage on paper.