Joi Murugavell
Family Reunion

When I moved from Australia to France in 2023 I found a box of drawings I’d made on old business cards in 2013. Feeling stuck and foreign in my new studio I thought visiting some drawings made 10 years ago may spark some sort of familiar comfort. The experience of making these drawings reminded me of my first visit to a gynaecologist where a nurse held a torch strategically and helpfully for my doctor. And then I had to ask a question about some ‘thing’ I didn’t feel was right to which my doctor replied ‘You are supposed to have that’. All the while the nurse kept whacking her malfunctioning torch.

Fast forward a year, I’m in a new studio in Saverne France. I think I’ll be making more drawings for my show in Toronto but that never happens. I had friends come over to stay for a week, some of them slept in my studio, I have a new disco light, we are chatting, we wonder how ten years have passed since we first met and I make large paintings under the influence of disco light and memories.

I wonder what these paintings are about, someone says ‘it looks like an awakening of sorts’ and I think yes! it’s a damn constant thing isn’t it? sleeping and awakening. (whacks torch)

I looked forward to meeting my cousins. Two of them own the gallery I will be showing with and one of them I’ve had for life. Sometime last year, during a period of questioning how I conducted my ‘business of art’ I felt a huge hint of goal misalignment. I thought back to when I felt more aligned with how I felt and what I did. And two people I’ve never met but have come to call cousins popped up. Ellen and Wendy have run Dimensions Framing & Gallery for 25 years. When I asked them for a photo of them together, Wendy drew me some stick figures and Ellen said she feels her morning brain lets her know when she’s truthful—usually before her ego moves in to convince her otherwise. I asked them for a show, they said yes, I feel more aligned.

As for the other cousin, the one I’ve had for life and call Jon Jon. He walks around with a little flag that he flies (slightly above his head), sometimes shyly and other times boldly. He made this unique flag as a child and keeps fixing its tattered edges. I wish more people would fly their tattered flags with as much pride.