As a teacher of Ancestral Healing work I am well aware that, long with countless human ancestors, we human beings also have non-human ancestors. There is such a thing as a Bacterial Ancestor or Viral Ancestor! One virus brought our world to her knees in 2020 and 2021 started with a third national Lockdown here in the UK. I am typing these words in our inner city London house to a soundtrack of sirens and emergency services riding out. This raw (and brand new) series of paintings explores who this Furious Grandma is (or might be) and what she is asking from us... And also how She is related to the Crone/Elder/Furious Grandma I myself aspire to be, one day!
FURIOUS GRANDMA GOES VIRAL!
A series of 2021 paintings by Imelda Almqvist
MY CROW'S FEET (60 x 42 cm) 2020 £350
During Pandemic Year 2020 and while in Lockdown I decided to start connecting with my Crone or Elder Self through art. I am determined to see the beauty of my body and face, and the bodies and faces of others. I will not quietly surrender to invisibility and redundancy! I'd father be a furious grandma, a formidable force for change! Here is a very short video about the making of this painting:
THE VöLVA (SOLD)
“Völva” was the official title for a woman who practiced Seiðr professionally, on behalf of her community. The word literally means staff-bearer. However, her staff was (most likely) a distaff (and tool used in spinning, which instantly connects her to the Norns), not a walking stick! The Old Norse word völ means “wand” or “staff”. I invite you to meet the Völva! Check out a recent webinar dedicated to her:
Meet The Völva! Seidr Class #2
GRIEF TENDER #1 (SOLD)
Our elders have lived, loved and lost. Western Culture allows no time for grief. It does not teach people about grief rituals or about the importance of witnessing/supporting grief in others. Old people are large invisible, in our culture, "past their sell-by date".
As I myself grow older (I am going to be 54 next week!) the matter of Elders becomes an ever more pressing concern: being an Elder, supporting others on the way to Elderhood, making sure that young people have access to Elders, inviting older people to actively step into the role of Elder...
GRIEF TENDER #2: " I CARVE MY GRIEF AS PETROGLYPHS IN THE CAVE OF THE MOUNTAIN MOTHER"
The grief journey is one we are always making. Smaller losses and incomprehensible losses. Soul-shattering losses that make us question who we even are, all by ourselves. When something, or someone, that supported us, drops away and the Void Space yawns.
But, as we fall, we find ourselves in the company of Falling Stars and Fallen Angels....
DREAMING WITH THE DEEP ANCESTORS (60 x 42 cm) £325
ANCESTRAL LINEAGE DREAMING (60 x 42 cm) £435
WHEN WE GROW OLD (60 x 42 cm) £345
Autumn is my favorite season. At the time of writing I am acutely aware of so much loss and grief around me and also within me. Growing old together is a privilege - not a given, in any way.
Autumn also brings on profound reflections about "the Early Autumn in my own Life".
As my joints are now a little creaky in the mornings and my hair slowly transmutes into a precious metal (silver threads) I have decided that I want to move through this process with awareness (full presence of mind) and self-love (not denial, painted smiles and hair dyes)...
What about you?!
WHERE SNOW DROPS MARK THE END OF HIBERNATION
My Swedish husband and I never agree on when Spring actually starts. For him Spring starts on March 1st and Summer starts on June 1st! However, for me, as a Spring Equinox baby, Spring starts on either March 20th or 21st (I always go with the astronomical equinoxes and solstices, not the calendar ones) and Summer starts on the Summer Solstice, best celebrated on Uppsa Kulle grave mound in Sweden, if I have freedom of location!
Here in the UK the day of completing this painting is also the Day where the prime minister will unveil "a cautious roadmap out of Lockdown". However, I feel best when I live on Mythical Time, committed to Magical Consciousness, in a Poetic Universe, so for me it is the Time of Snow Drops just now....
WHEN WE GROW OLD (60 x 42 cm) £345
MY TENT ON THE BOTTOM OF THE SEA (60 x 42 cm) £355