"THE TIE THAT BINDS", 2018, OIL ON CANVAS (1X1.5M).
Currently on display at St Vincent's Hospital
"Walking towards the unmanned counter, I noticed a smooth landscape hung behind it, the gentle colours of an early countryside afternoon, flung upon a violently red foliage.
It was pleasant, indeed, yet it didn’t quite grab me. Landscapes themselves never could, for there was no spark to them.
But portraiture, on the other hand, struck me like an unlit match. I’ve always had a fascination for the human face. Its malleability, its strength in expressing such a diverse range of emotions, the subtle lines that grow over a number of years from the memory of certain actions, the unique creases and curves, textures and shapes.
Hence, in landscapes I drew out the creases of joy; in trees I saw the crows-feet and forehead wrinkles of a weary old woman, and for objects I felt a strange sort of empathy for their little faces, the fronts of cars that hummed drearily in the high-city traffic, infested by their owners.
But more so, portraiture allowed me to draw close to another being, to foster a connection in the fast-paced hustle and bustle of the life I had known. I could sit silently in front of another, their eyes locked into mine, and ever-so-carefully capture their essence, feel their warmth run through me, and essentially, feel a familiarity in an alien land."
Excerpt, "Kafka in the Rye", Bella Brockwell (2018)
