Darla Jackson - Enter the 36 Chambers

Part “The 36th Chamber of Shaolin” and part “Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)”, Enter the 36 Chambers is a series of sculptural emotional portraits that focus on the path to self discovery, and the heart and the battle that it takes to get there.

This series has roots in many things but discovery of self, challenging your thoughts, and emotional growth are at the core, with the story being told through dead birds, found objects and various references to Wu-tang lyrics and Shaw brothers movies, among other things. 

Art is funny. You don’t have to like Wu-Tang Clan or Shaw Brothers Kung Fu movies or even dead birds to find something in this series that might resonate with you. Those things are just starting points, lenses through which a story is being told. When you look at them, you may see them in different ways entirely. For me they are emotional portraits, or a sculpture of a feeling, and I want that to be universal so that anyone can feel it and in their own way.

I use dead birds as a vehicle because they are vulnerable and beautiful. You want to protect them, despite the worst being over. I think looking back at emotions can be a bit like that. You’ve already felt them...it’s over, they’re gone. Yet we sit with them and obsess, relive, dissect or reimagine them. I think the best thing for me is to learn from them and move forward... but I also feel that is a struggle, a daily battle to not dissect what I felt and why.