HEALTH AND WELLNESS TOPIC.29
This is a brief look into Martine L’Étoile’s life and a lot of the stories portrayed in her art. I wanted to publish this because I feel it is a wonderful example of how art and health relate in helping us deal with difficult situations at time as well as adapting to new circomstances. Martine has been most generous in sharing this with us. ENJOY!
“It was my very first memory, walking up the driveway to the Kelang House just after it rained and seeing a tiny bright green snake climbing up a black tree trunk. I may have been two and as I recall it was the first day we moved into this home on top of a hill in the jungles of Malaysia. There was grandeur to the place, not just because of the wide open yard that circled around the house or long stone steps up to the front door, but that it was once occupied by the Japanese in World War II as their headquarters. It had its own personality filled with ghost stories. I remember the garden teaming with frogs, turtles, fireflies and the tallest grass that let us hide inside of it. My brother and sister and I would spend all our time playing and acting out stories in this pulsating garden far away from everything.
While living five years in this home, we witnessed it decaying. Molds, mildew, rotting wood ceilings were evidence that the house was being swallowed up by the imminent jungle. Plant life crept in as well as lizards in abundance. These memories are what now appear as glorious times. They are clues as to how humans soak in their environment and how it remains with them as some sort of fuel for the fire, lasting until death. Remembering how I felt then, takes me right back to the things that are most meaningful in life. I learned as a little girl to take care of my home, the land, and to live with nature, not against it.
My family moved many times during these years in Malaysia. There were four different homes we lived in, including a Way House, before we moved back to America. I had gone to many different schools and didn’t understand where my secure footing had gone to. The day had come when my parents Visas ran out and we flew back to Los Angeles to undergo a 
series of culture shocks. While flying back home I saw my mother’s eyes coming to tears. She knew where we were going, a place not readily holding the same innocence and wonder of the secluded strange and beautiful South East Asia. I believe we connect ourselves to the ground on which we live, especially at the beginning of life, because we imagine all the potential of our home and how to live in it forever, peacefully intertwined with Earth’s Nature.
Returning to Los Angeles in 1978 was a continuation of all the moves we underwent in Malaysia, yet with this one, came a new definition of life. There were so many changes and startling impressions, that I now understood what being lost was. The city was amazing to me as a child because of its seemingly endless rows of houses and the millions of lights that shown at night. I remember seeing for the first time, drug stores on every corner, giant super markets, enormous asphalt playgrounds, large colored televisions that played sitcoms and a man running for his life down our street only to be succumbed by a dozen police who had rage in their eyes and guns in their hands. Fear was a new lesson to us, my sister stopped talking, my brother went to a school known for its crime and I failed miserably in my studies. All these things were somewhere between a devastating dream and a wondrous challenge.
I think as children we are resilient, we live in the present moment and life seems to gradually make more sense while we heal unceremoniously. Looking back, the connection I had as a child to the land was a deep one. I still carry with me the feeling of wholeness and of being centered because that’s what I felt while being at the Kelang House. I think my family learned, as much as we could, that shifting from one environment to another takes a kind of resilience, coming from a profound respect for everything life has to offer. We adjusted and settled in, knowing two unique worlds, but still we gaze at the beautiful beginning.”
What a wonderful story, Martine. Thank you ever so much.
TO THE READER :
We hope you’ve enjoyed this article as much as we had bringing it to you. Your comments are always appreciated and we welcome them.
Once again, you are invited to visit Martine’s link to see more of her wonderful art and discover many new fascinating stories.
Links:
http://originalart4yourhome.blogspot.com
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Comments
Insight into an artist enhances the experience in viewing their art. The two articles this week and amazing paintings have been enlightening and rewarding… Thank you for sharing Cecelia
.-= Cecelia Gay´s last blog ..Westward Toe! =-.
What a wonderful account!
Thank you for sharing.
Awe, flexibility, resilience, respect… takes us a long way in life.
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