A Part of ourselves

A Part of Ourselves, a textured blue figurative painting showing two overlapping faces emerging from the surface.
  • Close-up of the right-hand face, exposed mesh and orange marks in A Part of Ourselves

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  • Close-up of the central face emerging from layered blue paint in A Part of Ourselves

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About the work

A Part of Ourselves began after my daughter emigrated to Canada. Although she had not disappeared from my life, the physical distance between us brought an unexpected sense of absence. It also reopened memories of my wife and the much deeper separation created by her death. One experience of loss had awakened another.


The two faces occupy the same blue field, remaining distinct while their boundaries fragment and overlap. The male face carries something of my own presence, while the identity of the second figure remains less certain. Marks, colour and exposed mesh pass between them as though neither can be entirely separated from the other. The figures are not literal portraits, but they emerged from my attempt to understand how love, memory and different experiences of absence become intertwined.


The painting was built through layers of acrylic, plaster and silicone, repeatedly covered, scraped back and reworked. Earlier marks resurfaced within what came later, much as a present experience can uncover memories we believed had settled. The surface became a way of considering how different losses accumulate within us rather than remaining separate.


A Part of Ourselves reflects on the bonds that continue across distance and beyond death. Those we love do not remain with us in the same way, but neither do they disappear completely. They become part of how we remember, how we understand ourselves and how we move through the world.


Artwork details
2024
Acrylic, plaster, silicone and mesh on canvas
60 × 60 cm


Availability on request →