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My own invention, 2012

My Own Invention

It was November 2011 and the other five musicians and me were heading to somewhere in Germany. We had to play that same night. After several days playing in different cities I finally began to feel like a real singer. During those long hours in the back seat of the van I drifted away in memories of my past life. I had changed so much since that January day of 2008 at the Hamburg airport when I arrived and stayed. Those memories inspired me to compose the song “Before the show”*. In this song, I describe my difficulties establishing myself as a singer in Germany and the separation of my family from Puerto Rico. The song lyrics can be found here. During the process of composition, I had a dream which led to the sketch for “My own invention”.

The dream: The boat was floating upstream through a tunnel. I could hear the water as the frogman in the boat was paddling through the dark. I wasn’t afraid although I could see several gigantic figures on the sides of the tunnel. We arrived at a gate at the left side of the tunnel and as it opened and I entered, I heard the music. There was a big room in which several people were celebrating. At the end of the room was an arch gate and through it I could see a bright garden but I wasn’t allowed to enter.

In “My own invention” I portrayed myself as a machine to produce music. This female machine reveals fearlessly her true face as a sign of sincerity. Through her flows the river of life in which her boat floats. One day, when the microphone comes down, so will her life as a singer and she will finally begin her journey to the afterlife.

*The song “Before The Show” will be published in my next album to be released in 2014.

El espejo – The mirror, 2010

The pain in my chest wasn’t as intense as before. After two years in Hamburg I was surprised by the sound of my own laughter. But the feeling that something was missing was still there. It was a simple image: I enter a dark room and try to find the pieces to put them together. “El espejo” is the most representative painting of my immigrant journey. In a blue frame I encaged myself as an exotic woman with the flower in the hair. My body is the recipient of a tropical dream with blue horizons. In contrast with the bright interior, extends a city with indistinguishable buildings under a grey sky. By my side, floats the messenger and help me hold the thread of my life that puts all the pieces of my past together again. Glued to the surface of the mirror I place a piece of paper with two sentences: I begin to recuperate the pieces I have lost. This nostalgia never ends.

In ARTBLOG, Judith Tellado writes about the background and creative process behind her symbolistic paintings.

Sueño: The dreaming journey, 2009

I always wanted to live in the old district of San Juan, capital of Puerto Rico. I used to imagine that to live there was like having the mark of a real portorrican city slicker aware of her cultural heritage. Finally, being a university student, I had the opportunity. I moved to a big apartment together with three colleages. Back then I used to work close to my apartment. During the first weeks I couldn’t believe my luck and after work, as I was walking back to my apartment, I used to observe its colonial architecture in bright pink color and its arch windows. I believed I would live in that city forever. When I painted “Sueño”, years later in 2010 and now living in Hamburg, I represented the things projected daily in my mind. Back then I still used to cry the memory of the things that I left behind. The elements on this painting not only romanticize the past that for years I wanted to abandon, but also idealize the journey of the immigrant and the new reality that I choose: a new city, a husband and the hands full of the dreams that I long to achieve. By my side, floats the silent messenger of hope; a fish-bird that brings on its beak the blue ribbon symbol of the Vishuddha chakra*. In this way the messenger suggests a future bond to my voice.

*Symbolizes the pure consciousness and creativity, it governs expression, inspiration in speech, eloquence, and perception of the archetypal models.