Acrylic on Plywood (97cm x 104cm)

And we’d rise and we’d fall
And somehow, we loved each other through it all. And some things we let wash away And some things we will carry to the sea We’re a deep river, deep river you and me.

This song and painting was inspired by my relationship with my mother. It’s a complex one. The most challenging of my life. Yet I love her, still. This painting tells the story of the effects of intergenerational trauma and captures the essence of our relationship, very black and white, deep, sometimes murky, but there are moments where the lights comes in. I painted with black on plywood very lightly, barely touching it. The heavy plywood never moved, as stubborn as trauma itself. What showed up through the black marks were the shadows. I used to live in them, but now I live more in the shallows, where there is light.