Sleeping Angel by Jade Farquhar

Jade Farquhar's Website and Instagram

Based in Kitchener, Canada

Sleeping Angel, Graphite on paper, 2024, 14x11

Sleeping Angel aims to illustrate the goodness that exists within the mundane, and thus ourselves. I was in search of something peaceful; it was the end of the year and November is always so dark and cold. I felt myself slipping into the endless stream of grey day after grey day and I wanted to create something that would give me comfort and that could inspire me to see beyond the monotony. I thought of innocence and lightness and calmness, and I decided that through this period where I was feeling the exact opposite of those things I could create something out of it that would allow me to explore those feelings and ideas.

Sleeping Angel is innocence personified, and maybe it's as literal as a metaphor can get but I like obviousness in a simple image. A dog is loyal, kind and aims to please. I’d like to think that those aspects are a part of me too but there is something in me that feels wild and resistant to peace. I look at dogs and I see that regardless of quirks or moments of disobedience there is an underlying kindness that is ever present. There is not a badness to be rectified but an innate goodness that allows forgiveness in missteps. When something is sleeping it is exactly as it needs to be. There is nothing to prove, nothing to strive for. There is tenderness in the quiet and a stillness where sincerity exists. I’ve never seen something sleeping and not had compassion for them.

In this period of waiting- waiting for the new year, waiting for the end of winter, waiting to feel better- I wanted proof that in the midst of feeling like this moment maybe isn’t sweet enough, that’s it’s exactly as it should be and that could be enough. I’d like to think that when I am still or sleeping or unobserved by the critic in my mind that my goodness is just as apparent as this sleeping dog. That when I am not working on or trying to prove myself, that there is something to see in me that peaks through, an inherent benevolence that can’t be taught. I see it in others and I see it in the way of the world, so I know it exists. And that at the very least, it exists in this image.