Halves is a Project about The Human Condition.
I am looking to illustrate that everyone has a story that has shaped who they are.
HALVES delivers a portrait of a human being.
Below the portrait lies half of a story of something that has happened in their life.
In order to get the rest of the story...
You must purchase the portrait.
Half of the proceeds go towards the subject.
Contact to submit your portrait and story.
samsoncontompasis@gmail.com
subject- HALVES
I first met the magician at the ruins of Pecos in New Mexico. She invited me back to her lair. It was there I spun webs of silken threads in ceremonial magic on the land for the next 7 years. Initiated into the snake clan through a series of unfortunate events, I learned to master the power. I grew up watching star wars, it all felt so familiar. Learning the shamanic doorways through time, traveling through space and communicating with the star beings were just a few of the positives in this story. The magician introduced me to her son, as a ceremonial consort. She wrote us into her prophecies and the magic became real. My intuition grew in ways I never imagined, and my senses expanded. Over the years as I traveled back and forth between New York and New Mexico I began to realize my purpose was much larger then even I knew at that time.
Everything came crashing down at the Bear ceremony in Taos. The magicians son had prepared a power plant medicinal drink and we began preparations for ceremony over the course of four days. When it came time to consume the drink we all sat in circle, with the bear skin in the center, the native american man we were initiating lay on the skin deep in his dreaming medicine.
The night of the plant medicine, as we sat in circle, we began to drift off in our own dreaming. I could see the room with my eyes closed. As I watched the spirit of each person slightly separate from each body around me, I could feel my own lifting up into a tunnel like space and when I looked down I could see the light of the room I had just left. I looked up and could see the tunnel went further, and a faint glow was coming from above so I went up, away from the ceremony, and the people sitting around me, and my part of the ceremony was forgotten as I could feel this was more important so I left the room up into the tunnel.
On some level I could hear the people in the room below me chanting and doing their parts in the ceremony as it was all coordinated by the magician and each person chosen for a specific role in the ceremony. I was the elemental. Something whispered to me at that moment "Leave it" so I did. Up I went into a large metallic room. I was there but also in the room where the ceremony was happening. The sensation of multidiemsions was present but not perceived the way I would've expected. Everything was happening at the same time, everywhere, it was just my perception of placement in time that truly had changed, I continued to ponder as I experienced it. I looked down and saw two insect like beings in the kitchen area as they peered into the ceremony room. They were watching what was happening. They could not see me. It came time for my part in the ceremony and I heard my name called. I stayed in the metallic room. I heard again my name whispered as if trying to politely get me to come out of meditation. I couldn't even if I wanted too I felt at that moment. I was not meant to be a part of this ceremony. Something was keeping me from going back down the tunnel to the room where my name was being called. I heard them move on to the next person. The ceremony continued without me.
I looked around at the metallic walls. The walls shifted and became the universe, and I was standing in the middle of a multicolored gas cloud with brilliant points of light off in the distance. I looked up and saw a star nursery and the light illuminating off of them was different then the others. I reached my hands up and felt as if I was bridging something from below as I could still feel my connection to the tunnel. I was here, yet there and everywhere. Is this what death is? I felt myself thinking. I could hear people moving around below me, the ceremony was over. I was still not feeling the pull to go back into that room. I could hear someone whisper, is she ok? I am very concerned.
I ignored them. I knew my time was limited and I felt compelled to finish whatever it was I was doing here. I simply closed my eyes, and felt the connection. I felt my awareness first transcend the tunnel, and then the rest of me followed. It was time to go. Down the tunnel I went back into the ceremony room. I felt a sense of disorientation as I sat there. Suddenly it felt as if all my muscles cramped at once and I was in excruciating pain. I began to cry sobbing guttural sounds and the magician came over and covered me with a blanket. My back had been against a cold window, keeping my spine cool. As my energy had risen up the spine, I was able to to endure it for a very long period of time, thanks to the cool temperature. It probably saved my life. Now I was crashing back into my body, this time and place.
I sat there under the blanket while she held me, and my crying began to slow. With my eyes closed I could sense the man on the bear skin rise up and surrounded by a golden light he walked over to me where I sat, hearing my cries, and he bent over and touched me on my forehead. I felt an instant calming effect, and the pain began to settle. Everyone but a few had left the room. It sounded like I was surrounded by a group of people, discussing me as I sat there and what to do. I am not sure how long I stayed that way. I finally was able to open my eyes. The magician was there, her partner and her son. With the help of the three of them, I was lifted up and could walk with help. As I rounded the corner heading back to my room where I could lay down, the magician stopped, and lifted a bright table lamp into my eyes, blinding me for a moment with the light. As the residual effect faded I saw myself walking down a stone spiral staircase as I crossed the threshold of my door to my room. It was a real as the scene before my eyes. Where was I in that space I wondered?
For the second half of this story;
4x6 10$
8x10 50$
16x20 200$
20x30 500$
For larger custom pieces
please inquire on contact page
Upon receipt of portrait purchase you will receive an email with the rest of the story.
Please allow for 7-10 days for delivery of portrait.
All proceeds are split 50/50 with collaborative partners in this project.