‘Wine Dark’, a reference to Homer’s description of the sea in his Iliad and Odyssey, conveys a deep and mysterious foreboding of the ocean and a journey. Written perhaps before the name for blue had been invented, this unknowable quality within the phrase feels relatable to our understanding of one’s own subconscious. At night, when we turn away from the world and its fractured distractions, the cinema of our mind and the elusive shadow self, come closer to the foreground.

Both paintings in this diptych, as introduced above, mark an antonymic moment within the Breathing Series. Instead of light subtly passing through the fleshy lids, they depict the experience of scotopic vision at night, when only the eye’s rod cells remain active. Within their depths, a concentric spiral emerges—a symbol found in ancient Celtic decoration, often linked to solar energy, migration, and perpetual transformation.

These spirals, embedded within layered oil bar textures, evoke the cyclical rhythms of nature and the continuation of energy beyond a singular existence. Like the rise and fall of leaves on a tree, each element contributes to a larger whole, emphasizing the interconnectedness of all things rather than the isolated existence of each part.