2006 and 2007 were years when I had experiences that have provided great personal transformation. This image is one of many that represents what this experience was like. I often wonder of the experiences that have influenced the images and idea's of the many artists and thinkers of this world.

Smelting, as a concept, is relevant to this image. A pure substance is hoped to derived or extracted from a body of impurities. Gold, for example, within a vessel of great heat, can be released from the earth that contains it. The slag, however, is left behind.

Smelting, to me, serves as an analogy for profound transformation; intellectually, spiritually, and so fourth. The "purity" that I felt had been extracted from my self through my 'experiences' in 2006 and 2007 had transformed me into how I am now (both intellectually and how I've come to exist spiritually). I do however consider the the possible aspects of my self that would be analogous to slag; I often wonder what had become of it. Does it still reside within? Does the 'slag' of being, rendered unnecessary, disappear or become something else? How does it appear and does it have a function? Metaphorically, does this after-birth assume another form of inner life and re-arrive as a golem or a monster? Or will it become passive like earth where it can allow something to grow? I believe that it becomes absorbed or transformed. Into what, I still do not know. I try to imagine it however; this image reflects this curiosity.