Ghosts
Artist’s Note:
The initial piece was inspired by Charles Dickens passage in A Christmas Carol regarding the children of men, Ignorance and Want:
“They are Man’s said the Spirit, looking down on them. And they cling to me, appealing from their fathers. This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased. Deny it cried the Spirit, stretching out its hand towards the city. Slander those who tell it ye. Admit it for your factious purposes, and make it worse. And abide the end.”
“Have they no refuge or resource,” cried Scrooge.
“Are there no prisons,” said the Spirit, turning on him for the last time his own words. “Are there no workhouses.”
The subsequent pieces, I’m sure bear a debt to Dickens and his sense of social justice. They are not directly tied to Dickens or A Christmas Carol. Still, I have allowed the titles to become very literary and they all derive from an idea of “ghost” that I’d like to think Dickens would be at least sympathetic with.
Luna Rail has been working as a social worker for the last 25 years. As an artist, his work is messy and emerges from disparate parts that don’t readily relate to one another in obvious ways. Drawing plays into the way he collages, which has always been her organizational tool for anything he’s ever made. Making art and loving the experience of seeing others making art (in apparent and less apparent ways) deeply informs his work as a social worker and therapist, which drives his art practice in turn. Find more of his work here.