It is strange how pictures sometimes take over the imagination and reveal layers of interpretation that were not originally planned. I was initially attracted to this feather because of the pattern and texture produced by the raindrops. I then decided to emphasize the natural divisions by separating them and discovered that in doing so I had effectively created the impression of bars – perhaps the bars of a cage or of a prison cell. Suddenly the picture took on a whole new life – it became heavily laden with symbolism. The title is deliberately ambiguous to accommodate a wide range of interpretations.
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