I use "Mermaid" in my artist name. So I often think about Hans Christian Andersen, who wrote The Little Mermaid.
A child who played with puppet theaters
Andersen was born into a poor family in the town of Odense, Denmark. He is said to have been a dreamy child with few friends, who stayed at home and played with his puppet theater all the time.
As he grew, he became absorbed in the world of fantasy and theater, and in 1819 he went to the capital, Copenhagen, hoping to make his way on the stage. He then wrote poems and novels, and eventually arrived at fairy tales.
The Little Mermaid, a story of giving up a voice
The Little Mermaid was published in 1837. A mermaid falls in love with a human prince and gains human legs in exchange for her voice. But her love is not returned, and in the end she turns into sea foam.
In Copenhagen there is the Little Mermaid statue. It was made in 1913 by the sculptor Edvard Eriksen, and its face was modeled on the prima ballerina who danced the lead in the ballet The Little Mermaid at the time. The statue has been damaged many times over the years, but each time it has been repaired, and it still sits by the harbor.
I do not give up my voice
The Little Mermaid gave up her "voice," her means of conveying her feelings, first. I think that is what makes the story so heartbreaking.
What I try to do with art is the opposite. To leave feelings that cannot become words as another "voice": color and form. Not giving them up, but setting them down.
Using the Little Mermaid's name while doing the opposite of what she did. That is the feeling with which I make my work.
Mermaid nao's commissioned art is work that holds, in a single painting, the part of you that does not become a voice.
Sources
GOTRIP! (A trip to Copenhagen visiting places connected to Andersen, the king of fairy tales born in Denmark)
Travel.jp (7 places connected to Andersen)
Kanko Access Guide (The Little Mermaid statue (Den Lille Havfrue) in Copenhagen)
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