Naomi Pridjian

Artist’s Statement

At the mid-point of my 6th decade…just as the road began looking like it might become a highway, I was diagnosed with stage 4 non-hodgkin lymphoma; the highway disappeared, and with it, my sense of self. What followed was a search for preternatural meaning that would transcend the literal roadblocks, that kept threatening to choke off the cosmic sense of knowing, the illness and recovery had given me. Like a child, I wanted to know about beginnings…what came before the first light upon the face of the deep. Curiously, it was the study of classical ballet during my 7th decade, with its discipline, form and artistry that provided a way forward. All three images shown here from my Genesis/Origins series, are visual manifestations of that search for meaning.

Artist’s Bio

In my 80+ years, I have traveled many roads toward knowing and being all that I can be with authenticity. Looking back on this, I know that I have always been an artist, even when I made no art at all. It is how I see, and have always seen the world—how I’ve processed and lived it.