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This work started from anxiety.
Both personal and political anxiety a constant state that we need to withstand. We turn fear into rage and panic into paralysis – all this only increases our anxiety. Mike Estabrook created this work to show another choice – transcendence.
According to him, the first step in dealing with anxiety is simply to close your eyes and breath. By thinking of this, he imagined a simple face meditating with closed eyes. It is one huge head taking up the whole pillar of a bridge and facing all pedestrians, runners, and cyclists going down the path.
The head is in red, orange, and yellow colors, which are often associated with anxiety. The face is surrounded by a blue space symbolizing calmness stemming from the meditating mind.
At first, the creator only planned to paint one face – an orange one. When he came to the place and saw the Sesupe river, his concept changed. The river was so calm and calming that Mike felt the need to paint a second face – a blue one – on the other side of the bridge. This addition to the work creates a whole story, embodying transformation from facing the anxiety (the orange face) through meditation (getting across the river) and reaching transcendence (the blue face). This transcendent face is not visible from the closest path by the bridge and, the same inner calmness appears only when people are trying to find it.
The artist hopes that people will put in some effort and find calmness through this work: when going down the path, walking across the bridge, or heading down the river.