In pieces

This series began as a single work - one surface holding a story. All the canvases were first laid down as one piece with one composition and one emotional field. After the initial layers of paint were poured, I sat with the discomfort that accompanied its narrative, and with one simple question: what will happen to the story if I take it apart?

At its core, “In Pieces” explores the way we construct meaning from our experience and conditioning, and whether those meanings have to be permanent. We tell ourselves stories to make sense of what happens to us, to be able to carry it, and survive it. But those stories can be re-written. And once they are, their emotional weight will change.

The process of physically separating and rearranging the canvases enabled deconstructing and rebuilding my story. What was once the only truth becomes fragmented, re-told, and reinterpreted. Nothing is lost, but everything is re-contextualised. Each canvas now holds a different angle of the same emotional truth.

“In Pieces” both asked and answered my question: healing can come from learning how to change a story we tell ourselves so it can be lived with differently. If you read the titles in order, you’ll discover a little poem. Together they speak as one story, and apart, each canvas becomes its own quiet truth.