gallery arcturus

Facing the Ineffable
a collaboration of heart by Paul and Deborah Harris

This work depicts Paul’s act of courage, the act of presence facing the terror of his situation.
I am merely trying to record it, to make it visible.
I am not brave, at best I am trying not to ride on the back of his courage.
Or maybe that is the only appropriate place to ride!
This is Paul’s show and I am riding on the back of his courage.

*

Paul has many friends and family members who fondly wish to remember him as he was in their
shared history. This show is not a celebration of that history it is the acknowledgment of a journey
he traveled by himself and that I was privileged, in moments, to be witness to. That privilege came
with an obligation. This show attempts, as much as I am able, to honor and fulfill that obligation
which I undertook as making his journey visible to those who would receive it.

*

Paul and I, on the day of his dying, communicated about this collaboration,
my words spoken to his listening eyes. He was probably more aware than I of his death.
He may also have been aware that the only gesture he was able to make was of the heart,
the invisible feeling, and the lines that were being continually recorded
as he lay. At the end of that meeting I spontaneously picked up the reams of ticker tape, his
heart’s print-out piled on the floor. It occurred to me later that I had retrieved the only
visible gesture he was able to make on his last day in this world. The mysterious rhythm of
these lines have surrounded me throughout the process of creating this work. I have not tried to
analyze or interpret, I have simply been moved.

*

The experience of being with Paul was a gift I want to share. It is his gift.

deborah harris
February 2006.