Alienation
Oil on board
72 cm x 102 cm
Artist’s Statement
This artwork is very personal to me as it reflects exactly how I feel in my household. I am at that age in life where I have to leave my house and pursue my ambitions, although it can be difficult, as I also want to help my parents with their more personal issues. Some might argue it isn’t my place, but I have realised that to help them, I should just help myself, as I too can be a cause of stress and worry. All households have their fair share of problems, and everyone deals with them in different ways. This artwork is a representation of the feeling I had, wanting to help contribute to my family and also wanting to leave my home to pursue my dreams and aspirations. The painting shows me depicted as a pale green alien-like figure tending to a figure who is my father. I left his face out to show the state of exhaustion he is in, as though his mind and body are decaying and dematerialising. The other side of the painting shows my mother, who resides in this bright pink luminous foliage, with our house in the background. This represents a whole different environment of problems within our household. Between my parents is me, alienated from either environment yet present in both of them.