WHEN WAVES COME CRASHING YOU KNOW HOME'S FAR AWAY
 
Drawings and Poems 
by Felix Barkow
 
« Poetry is a practice that feels more naked and vulnerable to me. It doesn't seem to
leave much space for hiding, like painting does.
Unlike my drawings, I do not share my written words with strangers - until now.
 
This book consists of seventeen poems written in the last two years, which focus
on personal struggles, social issues, love, and the power of realization.
 
The poems are presented alongside twenty-five drawings.
 
Over the years I have completed eight sketchbooks which each serve different
purposes from scribbling down quick ideas to sketching paintings in museums.
However, looking closer at my practice, the drawings focus on portraits of loved
ones, relatives, actors, artists, friends, and strangers.
 
I want to find the roughness and abnormalities in each face: Wrinkles, cuts,
freckles, and crooked noses, exaggerating them to put special emphasis on these
features. By illuminating those flaws, I hope to find reconciliation with our Own
appearances, and beauty in unexpected places.
Both the poetry and the sketches give a sense of breakability - together they might
be able to open up a whole new world to the observer. A world that starts from a
personal view but plunges into a shared experience of living today and any other
week. »
 
Published in 2023, Berlin, Germany
Edition 1

in A5 format, 66 pages
 
Iamges and words courtesy of Felix Barkow