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The Armoury Hexaptych· [ 18" x 24" panels ] Carbon pencil, blackening watercolours, and inks on paper mounted to canvas · [ 2019–2025 ]
The heavy masks and armor we build for survival, and shield us from the harm we have caused.
This hexaptych presents a collection of weapons and armour — pistols, knives, SMGs, and a gas mask — arranged as relics in a personal armoury. Each object is rendered with quiet precision, yet carries the weight of lived experience. A skull looms over the entire composition, a constant reminder not to romanticize the past but to remember the lost and the unmasked self — even when we do not like what we see.
The gas mask, echoing the one appearing in Butterfly Hunter, serves as a recurring symbol of protection, survival, and the invisible threats we have learned to breathe through when removed.
Rather than glorifying violence, these panels personify memory itself: each weapon or piece of armour stands as a stand-in for moments of conflict, defence, resilience, and the heavy cost of endurance. The blackening layers spread across the surfaces like accumulated residue — rust, blood, sweat, or the slow stain of time — tracing how experiences harden into objects we carry forward.
The work continues my exploration of unmasking by showing what we arm ourselves with when the world demands protection. The gas mask, in particular, reminds us that some masks are worn for survival, while others are worn to hide. Here, the armoury becomes both shield and archive — a quiet record of what we have faced and what we still hold.
Yet even among these instruments of defence and offence, a faint gleam persists on the edges of steel and glass — a quiet reminder that protection need not be permanent, and that something essential of the self can still endure beyond the need for armour.
Dark yet hopeful.
Studio view, or related works: blairaiken@raincage.com
Inspiration & Personal Connection
This painting draws inspiration from the arms and armour displayed in Scottish castles — swords, shields, and pieces of plate that have stood for centuries as silent witnesses to generations of conflict, duty, and survival. The psychological mask of having "armour" is an adaptive, often unconscious, defensive mechanism—a "persona" or "character armor"—used to hide true feelings, vulnerability, and authentic self behind a polished, strong, or indifferent exterior.
In my version, the armoury becomes a deeply personal collection. Each piece represents not just metal and edge, but a memory made real — a story carried forward through time. I see my own life reflected in these objects: the armour I have worn, the weapons I have carried, and the quiet weight of experiences that accumulate like layers of patina on steel.
The blackening layers trace the slow accumulation of memory, protection, and the scars we choose to keep visible. Through this work, I explore how we build our personal armour — sometimes for battle, sometimes for shelter — and how the objects we collect become vessels for the stories we can no longer speak aloud.
Yet even in this room of hardened steel and edged history, a faint gleam persists on the curve of a blade or the surface of a shield — a quiet reminder that every piece of armour, every memory we preserve, still holds the possibility of being laid down, examined, and eventually transformed into something lighter.
Dark yet hopeful.
Studio view, or related works: blairaiken@raincage.com
Dark yet hopeful.
