Karin Melis wrote a literary reflection MOVING IN THE LIMINAL in response to my artistic process and the symbolism of the hare in my work. Karin is a writer and philosopher who unravels life with relentless curiosity (De Nachtzoen – NPO).
We have known each other for a long time. From the moment she walked in wearing her red boots, we have followed each other closely. She knows my earliest sketches of the hare and was the one who helped me literally take them out of the drawer, so they could be seen. What followed was a process of many years, in which hare and woman gradually evolved toward the deer.
That she has now put this process into words feels both natural and meaningful. The article can now be read on my website and on my LinkedIn page. The link is below.
MOVING IN THE LIMINAL
I am hare. In all my appearances Leonoor gives lovingly form to the archetypes living within herself. Extraordinary. Fantastic. I am honored she chose me to enter liminal spaces, transforming without knowledge beforehand where she will find herself. Let me be your guide, was my whisper and she took up her artistic arms and gave life to me. In these paintings of the artist Leonoor shares how she gives light and form to the archetypes living within her. Let is be an inspiration to you.
I WHO LIVE WITHIN YOU, EXPRESS WHO YOU ARE
For an endlessly long time you kept me hidden in a drawer, but I forgive you for that, of course I do. It is not always easy to expose your invisible, intimate parts to the light of life.
The daze in my eyes, caused by the stifling closeness of the wooden plank above me, no doubt another drawer that was opened daily; I suspect that’s where you kept your makeup. There I lay, in my original form as a limp doll. You painted me dangling from your arm. A limp hare. It did not trouble me in the least. Even though you painted me in every conceivable guise, I was your inseparable companion. For the attentive observer: part of you.
Being lost in the world is exposed, not so much experienced by you yourself, the owner of being lost. Or was this temporary swift of fate secretly the owner of you? But it was seen by me, the limp, seemingly will-less doll you carried everywhere with you. You have no idea how I had to restrain myself when the light suddenly fell upon me as you pulled the drawer open.
You looked at me with wide eyes, as if seeing me for the first time. Spreading large sheets out on the floor and I bathed, rediscovered, in the light. I was seen; something inside me rejoiced, and I felt how unknown forces took hold of me. I practically burst out of my skin. I saw how restless it made you, pacing through your living room.
From that moment on you never let me go. Paint, charcoal, brushes and tools were taken up with fire, and I, whom you had kept hidden for so long, came to life in my full glory, life-sized, yes, larger than yourself, on your sheets of paper, on the linen. From a limp doll dangling from your arm, I seemed to bud and expand in all my facets, springing from you yourself. I wanted to say that in your creative drive you crossed boundaries, but those boundaries existed only to give me form. I who live within you and stand life-sized, visibly present, in your exhibitions.
– Author- Karin Melis
Mixed media on paper – from the It’s nature series -2022 – 2023
It’s Nature is an art series exploring symbolic figures drawn from nature and inner experience. Through expressive mixed-media works, the series reflects on strength, vulnerability, transformation, and resilience. Animals such as the hare and the deer appear as recurring archetypes, shaping a visual language grounded in intuition and narrative symbolism. Hare became Deer – Much stronger. Within the It’s Nature series, the hare appears as a symbolic archetype shaped by narrative tradition and intuitive imagery. It embodies alertness, vulnerability, and inner strength. The deer later enters the visual language as a more powerful presence, carrying themes of resilience and transformation. Together, these figures form a symbolic dialogue between fragility and strength. Read more about symbols & narrative >
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