Valley of Bewilderment is the only painting in this series where I have gilded both the birds and the background. In all my other paintings, the birds are in colour, flying through a gilded landscape. Gold is rare, precious, and incorruptible. For these reasons, many traditions and cultures associate this radiant metal with Divine Light. The gilded backgrounds in my previous paintings hint at an unearthly, Divine realm that the birds journey through. They are places beyond space and time. The Valley of Bewilderment is where the birds finally touch the Divine Presence. However, their contact is fleeting. They must return to earth and the mundane reality of life. Attar describes the utter confusion and bewilderment of the birds, returning to reality after having touched the Divine:

“The Unity you knew has gone; your soul
Is scattered and known nothing of the Whole.
If someone asks: “What is your present state;
Is drunkenness or sober sense your fate,
And do you flourish now or fade away?"
The pilgrim will confess: “I cannot say;
I have no certain knowledge any more;
I doubt my doubt, doubt itself is unsure;”

To reflect their bewilderment at having entered the Divine Presence, the birds fly in all different directions. Gilding the birds and the ethereal landscape they inhabit was my way of suggesting closeness, yet also separation from the Divine.