Little Boxes

The lithography ‘Little Boxes’ is, as stated by the artist herself, a metaphor for the social isolation, sometimes self-induced, often experienced with epilepsy.

In her commentary on the picture, the artist, who herself confronts the subject of epilepsy in her own social environment, lets those affected have their own word: "The point of view is me looking at myself. Looking outward, I see the how having epilepsy sometimes shapes my day. Looking inward, I can consider the spectrum of emotions associated with having this condition. Doing this helps me understand that having epilepsy is both an inconvenience and a gift." . . . . .

This statement is reminiscent of a comment by the author, poet and Catholic thinker Reinhold Schneider (1903-1958), who speaks of a "terrible gift of grace" in connection with the epilepsy of Prince Myschkin (an autobiographical figure in Dostoevsky’s novel ‘The Idiot’.

The ‘neutral’, unaffected viewer of this lithography can also arrive at a two-fold perception, a ‘double interpretation’. Do the ‘Little Boxes’ possibly represent individual areas of life, which differ from each other through their unequal sizes, but which by their linked presentation and identical colouration are however subject to a common influence or even to a diktat (namely the epilepsy)?

Or however (in the words of a fictitious sufferer): "I am indeed accompanied through my life by epilepsy (uniform shape and colouration of the ‘boxes’), but I have organised this life and structured my individual areas, which are all influenced to a greater or lesser degree (different sizes of the 'boxes'!); despite my illness, I have brought alignment into my life!"

(It is self-evident that the form of presentation chosen by the artist, as with every art work, is also open to completely different interpretations.)