This is Why

Acrylic paint, paper, digital collage on canvas, framed. 52"x41" Framed. Made in 2025. This mixed media painting layers memory with raw abstraction, creating a vivid dialogue between past and present. At its center, a monochromatic blue photograph of a young child gazes outward with quiet intensity, grounding the composition in innocence and vulnerability. Around this image, vibrant fields of paint—yellows, reds, turquoise, and blacks—erupt in bold gestures, transforming the photograph into a site of tension and energy. Drips of black cascade down the left edge, like traces of erasure or time’s persistence, while flashes of white, teal, and crimson move restlessly across the surface. A fragment of text, collaged near the bottom, suggests lost or half-remembered stories, evoking the way memory often blurs into abstraction. The contrast between the child’s stillness and the chaotic layers surrounding them creates a powerful emotional friction. The portrait resists dissolution, standing firm against the expressive weight of paint and gesture, as if asserting identity amid overwhelming noise.  At once intimate and unruly, the work speaks to the fragility of memory, the layering of personal and collective histories, and the resilience of the self within an ever-changing world.