Land

Floating Land – Oil on Canvas – Omay Lee 2019
Take from our souls the strain and stress,
And let our ordered lives confess
The beauty of thy peace..

The floating castle of Barra, finding its way through the darkness…

Hooves through the Glen – Oil Pastel on Paper – Omay Lee 2016
At hush of even-tide, 
O’er the hills beyond the Clyde, 
I go roaming to my heaven, 
Down in the Glen ~ Robert Wilson

The Crossing troubled lands – Watercolour on Paper – Omay Lee 2018
A Crossing over the Water of Leith, Edinburgh – A view from the bridge. Throughout life, we make difficult crossings across thresholds to live in ways more aligned to our values. A threshold is like a tipping point, similar to the tipping points of the earth. It reminds us, too, that the earth itself may be approaching key tipping points in climate change including the runaway loss of ice sheets, which might fundamentally disrupt the global climate system. Can actions and values make a difference?

Autumn Leaves – Oil on Canvas – Omay Lee 2019
Autumn is like a surrender, to let the red leaves fall like a melancholic shedding, a time of composting and of homecoming, in order to re-ignite the inner fire of the soul. The odes of autumn are described in the following passage by the ancient poet Li Bai, who described the wind which wails in sorrow, and awakens the song of the jackdaw:”秋风清, 秋月明 , 落叶聚还散, 寒鸦栖复惊“
Autumn wind whirls,
Autumn wind wakes,
Flutters fall on dead leave furls,
Wakens forth as jackdaw quakes.
© Omay Lee 2019

Cries of the Wilderbeest – Oil on Canvas – Omay Lee 2019
Our dreams of wild wildebeest arriving to our tents at night may signal a certain doom. They ask us to awaken from our slumber and to notice the peril, the peril which inflicts both human, beest, insect and plant alike, that peril that singes our hearts and our minds, that obscures our view so that we might not see the destruction of nature, the wildfires of the forests, the planetary warming, the singed earth, the doom that lies in our wake. The wildebeest bravely risk their lives to approach us to warn us of this peril, we the culprits of their loss of home, we the peril that we created. Will we have foresight to listen to their wisdom?

Nature Sees – Oil on Canvas – Omay Lee 2019
In the tangled haze of wilderness, the creature who remains unseen sees all. It is stuck in the paradox of witnessing deforestation and habitat destruction, yet its own camouflaged voice cannot speak out against injustice. It reminds us of caring for what has been marginalised by our culture. It is through art that the silenced may speak. If we listen without judgement, what can we notice that has been silenced by our consumption of the natural resources of the planet?