Berry Campbell Gallery is pleased to announce an important exhibition curated from Ann Purcell’s Kali Poem series. For Purcell, the desire to achieve more spontaneity led to this series, which she started in 1983 and is ongoing. She notes: “For the first time in my work, it was not out of joy, but from some other place, some other sphere. They just seemed to appear.”
However, Purcell knew they had a meaning, and the answer came to her from a poem: May Sarton’s The Invocation to Kali, published in Poetry (1971). At the time, Purcell had only read six lines of the poem and was not aware of the attribution, which later she discovered was by the acclaimed poet, May Sarton. In fact, such a hindsight recognition is perfectly in keeping with Sarton’s poem, as the poem is one of process and reckoning. In four sections, the poet and reader examine the human need to destroy. The poem’s fifth section, the “Invocation,” is an entreaty to the Hindu goddess Kali to “be with us,” in order to “bring darkness into light.” For Sarton, it is the power represented by Kali—a goddess with a seemingly terrible form who is a destroyer of evil forces and also a kind protector of the universe—that gives recognition to how we must strive to bring creation out of destruction. These six lines of the “Invocation” had long lodged in Purcell’s mind: “Help us to be the always hopeful / Gardeners of the spirit / Who know that without darkness / Nothing comes to birth / As without light / Nothing flowers.”
Since 2013, Berry Campbell Gallery has represented Ann Purcell exclusively. Purcell is preparing for an upcoming solo exhibition at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum and will be included in a group exhibition at the American University at the Katzen Arts Center next year. Ann Purcell: Kali Poem Series is on view from October 15, 2020 through November 14, 2020.
However, Purcell knew they had a meaning, and the answer came to her from a poem: May Sarton’s The Invocation to Kali, published in Poetry (1971). At the time, Purcell had only read six lines of the poem and was not aware of the attribution, which later she discovered was by the acclaimed poet, May Sarton. In fact, such a hindsight recognition is perfectly in keeping with Sarton’s poem, as the poem is one of process and reckoning. In four sections, the poet and reader examine the human need to destroy. The poem’s fifth section, the “Invocation,” is an entreaty to the Hindu goddess Kali to “be with us,” in order to “bring darkness into light.” For Sarton, it is the power represented by Kali—a goddess with a seemingly terrible form who is a destroyer of evil forces and also a kind protector of the universe—that gives recognition to how we must strive to bring creation out of destruction. These six lines of the “Invocation” had long lodged in Purcell’s mind: “Help us to be the always hopeful / Gardeners of the spirit / Who know that without darkness / Nothing comes to birth / As without light / Nothing flowers.”
Since 2013, Berry Campbell Gallery has represented Ann Purcell exclusively. Purcell is preparing for an upcoming solo exhibition at the Provincetown Art Association and Museum and will be included in a group exhibition at the American University at the Katzen Arts Center next year. Ann Purcell: Kali Poem Series is on view from October 15, 2020 through November 14, 2020.
