To Get Back To You
Following the passing of my beloved Grancher, my newest work explores themes of Grief and Abandonment. This year I was forced to confront my own abandonment issues and mental shortcomings, after witnessing a young child bury her father with such mental resilience and acceptance. In the midst of my grief, I reflected on my own childhood and asked myself why, why did I feel so deeply unhappy from my earliest memories? I couldn’t pull out a single moment of acceptance. Yet I was able to vividly recall every unpleasant recollection, from the expressions on my sister's faces, down to the numbness that coursed through my tiny body. I now recall this as “living under a dark cloud”.
During a whirlwind of emotions at my studio, I rolled out several sheets of drawing paper and laid-out an untouched set of soft pastels. Pulling from my ingrained memories, I created my first piece of the collection, “Oh No, Mum Went To Get Bread!”. From then, I began searching to recapture the precise moment innocence collapsed, and the different ways children react to trauma.
