The Margaret Aylward Centre is proud to share a new addition to our Centre in the form of “A Spiritual Journey”. This beautiful piece of artwork is on long-term loan to the Centre from Josette Vasallo, a Maltese artist who has been living in Ireland for several years. With its spectacular use of colour and its contemplative focus, it makes an ideal centrepiece for our Sacred Space where it has been hung. It will no doubt enhance and enrich the experience of those who use the room for various activities, as well as those who seek out its peace during moments of reflection.  You can read the artist’s description of the painting below.
The Different Colours are not in a ‘Light Refracted order’ as in a rainbow because this picture is about the spiritual journey and not only about the evolution of the physical aspect of life.
The Spiritual journey also includes the physical evolution of the human being but this painting wants to focus primarily on the spiritual realm of an individual in finding his or herself deeply.
In nature things seem very random but there is always an underlying meaning to our existential experiences as in nature and we only discover the meanings of our experiences gradually during our lives. The special eureka moments, thus the big white light is at the end of the numerous spirals could be referred to as Heaven, Nirvana, Self-realisation, ultimate connectedness, pure consciousness, etc., depending from which metanarrative, religion or philosophy you choose to journey; and this is what this painting all about. One Christian mystic called this experience the ‘Absolute Communication’ to describe the relationship of the Three in the Trinity and this is the same experience of what happens in and through us when we are on a Spiritual Journey.
In nature the spiral is a most mesmerizing shape and spirals are omnipresent in our natural world and in the universe; from the pinecones, gastropod fossils, fern fiddleheads, to galaxies and hurricanes. The Neolithic era uses spirals to represent creation and journeying; likewise, in the Celtic culture they represent the
cycles of (birth, death, rebirth) as well as the Triple Goddess (maiden, mother, and wise woman). Therefore, the Spirals in this painting are in Mandalas/ Yantras form indicating the lived experiences of the individual that do not have a dualistic
expression because they include’ and ‘continue always’.
This painting is only a humble attempt at representing a two-dimensional expression of ‘A Spiritual Journey”.
Josette Vassallo
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