Luminous Bodies

Luminous Bodies is a work of celebration and mourning in two volumes of 45 watercolors in each volume. These images explore the spiritual and cultural forces that continuously vie to originate and then heal the rift between the body and the soul. In this volume, the Foreward, Robin Hamlyn states, “In order to produce art like Melinda Camber Porter’s Luminous Bodies you have to be like William Blake. You have to be like Melinda Camber Porter. You have to be absolutely fearless.” Robin Hamlyn (Senior Curator, Tate Britain Collections, 1780-1860 and world renowned William Blake expert). Inspired by many religious traditions of celebrations and mourning, from The Tibetan Book of the Dead to Native American mourning rituals, the series of drawings is, in actuality, a spiritual journey begun by Melinda Camber Porter a few days after the death of a loved one. Melinda Camber Porter passed away of ovarian cancer in 2008 and left a significant body of work in art, journalism, and literature. With her background as a journalist for the Times of London, her questions explored the creative process used by many widely acclaimed cultural figures, filmmakers, and writers. The Melinda Camber Porter Archive wishes to share these conversations with the public to ensure the continuation and expansion of the ideas expressed in her creative works. The first volume is Luminous Bodies: Circles of Celebration. The second volume is Luminous Bodies: Circles of Mourning.