Extraneous Drawing #54
Her flight begins with the trio of Extraneous Drawings completed on Christmas Eve (ED.55-57). Heady with the absence of her father on a day when the frequency of loss is that much more well-tuned, the young artist treads out drawings that factor the events of her father's early demise. This chain of images is instigated by the phlegmatic final attempt to heave David Jelish from his watery end, itself realised on a sheet bearing a consolatory second letter home from Demaio (far too late for any redemption), progressing to a second scene that features Jelish the elder in his sickbed and finally concluding with a image culled from the dark recesses of the young chronicler's memory featuring her father's (failed) endeavour to resuscitate the baby Peter. One can visibly pinpoint the mental trajectory of the artist in juxtaposing a distant attempt at revival with a tormented contemporary example. It is not unduly difficult to follow Naomi's lead and divulge the relentless tragic path befalling the Jelish family. It was openly known amongst friends that the wretchedly premature death of Peter Jelish in 1989 effectively propelled the family, David Jelish in particular, into both medical and financial despair (the connection between the two is too blatant to comment upon). The circumstances now optically reconnected through the youngster's precocious pencil.
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