The second of a series of projects based upon the book The Difficulties of Being, by Jean Cocteau. The project reflects upon the search for truth in context to the challenges that confront us being women in the contemporary world. The merging of pine tree landscapes with extracts from Cocteau's book investigates the relationship between the emotional and the rational aspects of life, trying to find balance and common ground.
The pine trees symbolizes women who endures all no matter what surrounds them. They may be barely visible through the mist but are still standing tall when the weather clears. According to Japanese traditions the evergreen pine is a symbol for immortality and irresistible strength tempered by a lifetime of daily struggle. Like the tree that emerges unscathed from the assaults of storm and tempest it is also a symbol for those who have held on to their opinions- unaffected by criticism. Year after year trees gain maturity, becoming solid and rooted. With age we gain knowledge and wisdom. Haunted houses are symbolizing haunted souls. The house signifies the inner being and different states of the soul. The house as a feminine symbol in the sense of being a sanctuary, the mother and protection. Filled with painful memories and knowledge, the women as the trees often remains as silent victims or observers, embracing and giving life to a world of discontentment and illusions of fear.