Safe Space 2020

Editor: Rose Freymuth-Frazier’s mixed-media painting, "Safe Space," from 2020 presents a very intriguing image. I’m immediately struck by the somewhat surreal scene – a woman and cat in matching headgear, floating bubbles… It feels like a dream, or maybe a memory. How do you interpret this work? Curator: The image certainly has a dreamlike quality, doesn’t it? For me, the ‘safe space’ is immediately ironic, perhaps even a little sad. Both figures are enclosed in these protective bubbles, but what are they protecting themselves *from*? Are those bubbles really a form of connection? Editor: That's interesting – I hadn't considered it as ironic. The bubbles felt more… comforting. But now that you mention it, the woman’s expression seems a bit melancholy, doesn’t it? And why flowers inside her helmet? Curator: The flowers, I think, are a particularly potent symbol. Flowers are traditionally associated with beauty and growth, but here they're trapped, literally consuming her. It reminds me of the weight of expectations, the idea of suffocating under prescribed notions of femininity. What do the bubbles with butterflies conjure? Editor: I suppose the bubbles containing butterflies could represent fragility, but maybe also transformation. Like these private worlds can enable metamorphoses to occur. Is that reaching too far? Curator: Not at all. The image teeters between those opposing interpretations. It's the power of visual language, to hold those ambiguities. I would say it's an introspective piece inviting reflection about isolation, protection, and the very notion of "safe spaces". Editor: Thank you, seeing the symbolism laid out really shifts the whole feeling of the artwork. Curator: Exactly, sometimes even a painted "bubble" can hold a whole history of our hopes, fears and cultural baggage.