"A tender and introspective painting that quietly examines emotional inheritance, care, and the complexity of familial bonds."
-------- Review from Future Art & Design Award
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Project description
“Expectations of Life” explores the intertwined themes of family, attachment, and the cyclical nature of emotional inheritance. The work centers on the longing to be seen, understood, and gently held—needs that often echo from childhood into adulthood.
Rendered primarily in grayscale, the palette reflects silence, restraint, and unspoken emotional weight. The vivid red on the cheeks and the fruit introduces a fragile yet persistent pulse of hope and courage.
The two bodies intertwined in the composition represent both the child who needed protection and the adult striving to provide it. The rope wrapped around them symbolizes the duality of relationships—connection and restraint, tenderness and confinement. Surrounding floral motifs form a circular frame, alluding to the endless loop of expectation, growth, and return.
While creating this work, a quiet thought surfaced:
When one day I can hold my own child, I would walk him through the world with all my tenderness. In holding him, I also hold the small version of myself who once craved understanding. And softly, I would ask my mother—did she, too, carry unspoken expectations for me?
The small potted plant and its single red fruit symbolize continuity—the inheritance passed down from one generation and the gentleness I hope to pass on to the next. This work is a reflection on origin, wounds and love, and the lifelong journey of learning how to carry and release each of them.