Acrylic on on mounted artist panel (pine). 51 x 41 cm. 2023

In 2017, I had an awakening where my heart opened to my own suffering as well as that of life on this planet. One day during this important time, I was at a friend’s house and they had drone footage playing over Antartica, it was beautiful, detailed and made me realise how very much a -real- place Antarctica is. Then I realised that this incredible place was there, right now, on the same planet as me and I understood this not just as a concept but as an embodied feeling. And suddenly I was there, I could feel it and I could smell it and it was too warm, I was too warm and I was melting into the ocean. My heart broke open and I began to cry with the most profound and important grief I’m yet to experience, the sort that wets not just your face with tears but your chest, hands and thighs as they fall. This is my first attempt to paint this, it’s just a small piece as I try to evoke what this feeling is… I think there may be more come yet.