Pelagic Gypsy Over the Blue Ridge
Artist: Cynthia Potter
Medium: Giclée signed print
Size: 11" x 11"
About the art: This print of the acrylic wash on wood painting I made is really about the Puerto Rican diaspora. I spent my childhood (age 4-18) in Puerto Rico, but have been living in the States since 1986. Regardless, I continue to have a deep longing for my childhood home, even as I love my current North Carolina mountain home. Manta rays ("mantarrayas") are occasionally seen leaping out of the water around Puerto Rico. The following poem goes with the painting:
The travel-weary manta ray
drifts with the tidal currents
filtering organisms and information
tropical images cast away
emerge now from unknown depths
disturbing the delicate surface
breaching through the watery border
to rid herself of parasites and stale beliefs
brings her down again into a different cesspool
The pelagic gypsy can never reach
the rich and obscure bottom
or the radiance of the sandy shore
The travel-weary manta ray
drifts with the currents
filtering organisms and information
About the artist: Puerto Rico is my childhood home; I lived there from the time I was 4 years old until I went off to college, Carlos & I got married there, and we have gone back to visit my home as often as we can. The nature and people of the island has been a constant source of inspiration to me. Hurricane Maria has destroyed many of the places I played and lived in. Fortunately, my father and stepmother fared the storm well. Though still without power or water, they are some of the lucky ones. So many others have not been so fortunate.
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