Safe from harm

“Post Partum” is a series of paintings about how we are all utterly responsible for our immediate surroundings, which to me is an equally humbling as terrifying revelation.

When my partner and I emerged from the hospital with our firstborn we figured we better get into a cab and disappear as fast as possible, before the grown-ups would come and take the baby away from us. Surely they wouldn’t let us just take a newborn with us to feed and play with to the best of our abilities? As absurd as it felt, we managed to keep that tiny meatloaf alive. A couple years later I was digging in the dirt and found a huge toad, I was a hairs width away from cutting it in half with the spade, and as I picked her up to make sure she wasn’t hurt I had that same feeling of acute vulnerability that I had experienced outside of the hospital a few years earlier. We are all utterly responsible for our immediate surroundings, which to me is an equally humbling as terrifying revelation.

Technique: The backgrounds are built up in thinly sprayed layers using gardening spray cans with liquid acrylic paint in 8 different hues, and the toads are acrylic mixed with chalk to build up structure. On top of that i pour indian ink and transparent glossy medium to make the toads shiny and almost emerge from the canvas.

Size 55x40 cm

Cotton canvas on wood panel, with wooden frame