Hell-Loa-Loa (My journey with the African eye worm) Print

The strange tale of my journey with Loa Loa, the African eye worm. I thought this painting was finished in 2014. It ended up as an abstract piece that took ages to complete due to the intricate, worm-like patterns that filled the canvas. I was not able to fully bond with the piece at that time, it was a struggle to complete and I was not satisfied with the end result. I had no idea what compelled me to paint it, or what it was trying to say, and it rested in this unsatisfactory state for many months. Little did I realise that all would be revealed soon enough, and that this painting was being influenced by other beings. I have spent a lifetime living and travelling in far flung lands, where strange bugs and critters creep and crawl freely. For many, many years I have been living with some strange health problems that did not respond to alternative or allopathic medical treatment. Although on most levels I have been fit and healthy most of my adult life, things started changing about two years ago: rocketing white blood cell counts; hospitalisations with abscesses; strange lumps that would appear and then disappear; itchy, raised red skin patches; joint aches, pains, and a sense that amongst the millions of microscopic beings that form "me", that there was something gatecrashing the party. As my teacher Lama Lena often reminds us, we as humans are an ecology of beings, with only ten percent of our body's cells carrying our individual DNA. In the summer of 2013, I went to stay in a traditional Bwiti village in the jungles of Gabon, where I underwent an intensiveten day healing ceremony conducted by a group of Babongo Pygmees led by their illustrious leader and king, Adumangana. Intense is not a word I use lightly, and intense it certainly was. Prior to going on this trip I had received warnings from two people possessed with the gift of insight that this journey would risk my life. The intensity of the ceremony, the jungle, the tropical sun and the ceaseless attacksby squadrons of flying insects, day and night, was unending, and left me wondering if I was really doing the right thing. At the end of this trip I was assured that all was well, the healing had worked and that I would regain health. On my return to England, doubt crept in as my symptoms got much worse and my health deteriorated over the following year and a half. A new symptom arose: a blinding pain in my eye that would occur every few months for a day and then slowly fade away. Two months ago, this pain re-occurred, but this time did not go away, and when I investigated it further by looking in the mirror, I saw something wriggling just under the surface of my eyeball. The triage nurse looked at me as if I was a hallucinating miscreant (who, me?!) when I arrived, in shock, a short time later at my local A&E and claimed that there was a worm in my eye! The eye surgeon did some Googling, and with a steady hand made a scalpel incision in the eyeball and pulled out a 3.5cm long wriggling Loa Loa worm. This was the start of new adventures as a medical novelty exhibit, which included a week's stay at the London School for Tropical Diseases for an intensive bout of treatment. Extensive testing revealed not only Loa Loa but also two other different parasites, Hookworm and Strongyloides, which have been partying inside my body for an unknown amount of time. In the past I have had both NHS and private parasite tests, which have all come back negative, and have undertaken parasite cleanses myself. Excuse the pun, but it has been an eye-opener to realise that these nematode nasties have managed to avoid detection throughout. Despite this seemingly bad news, I now understand the blessing of being infected with Loa Loa: without this infection, the other parasites would have remained hidden, and the long term consequences of this would have been grim. Blessings and healings can come in many different and strange ways; I went to the jungle, to Bwiti, to ask for help - little did I realise it would come in the form of a worm! So, back to the painting.... a fewweeks ago, while sorting out my art studio, I happened to pick it up again. It was upside down when I saw it, and I immediately saw that what I had painted was an eye made out of worms. Out came the oil paints, and a few days later, the painting was finished. Now that I look back, I realise how strange and interesting it was to have my artwork subconsciouslyguidedby a bunch of creative worms. It has made me wonder who the artist is, really?

Print:Giclee on Fine Art Paper

Size:10 W x 10 H x 0.1 D in

Size with Frame:15.25 W x 15.25 H x 1.2 D in

Delivery Time:Typically 5-7 business days for domestic shipments, 10-14 business days for international shipments.