I brought together a number of images in this painting. I found this poem by Rilke difficult to transform into a work. The poem talks about acrobats and performance. Rilke writes of a stationary figure being surrounded by all this activity and performance. My figure is surrounded by images that are both personal experiences and collective memories. My experience as a jeweller is most visible here. The figure wears a collection of charms, symbols and signs that men of that era were permitted to wear as adornment. There is a horseshoe, a kangaroo, a map of Australia, a digger's hat among other things.
