B.

“Through the shaped spaces of the bed’s frame; through the flowers carved in the wood and through the window pane; through the pierced verandah hood, the foliate rose, I see the straight and curved branches parting of a tree. Without the lens heaven, the heavens not understood. Thus domestic life is both subject and metaphor.”

“As a woman, painting is not a job, not even a vocation. It is part of life, subject to the strains, and joys, of domestic life. I cannot paint unless the house is in order. Unless I paint I don’t function well in my domestic roles. Each thing is important. The idea that one sacrifices other values for art is alien to me, and I think to all women whose calling it is to do and be many things. To concentrate all meaning and all energy in a work of art is to leave life dry and banal. I don’t wish to separate the significant and everyday actions but to bring them to close as possible.” —Joanna Margaret Paul, 1975

(Perilous: Unheard Stories from the Collection, 6 August 2022- )