September 2020 . 'Ascension' : Despair and hope

In April 2019, I was greatly shaken by news of the appalling bombings in my native Sri Lanka that claimed so many innocent lives. Art is a great channel to pour those emotions into a painting, and ‘Ascension’ painted that month does just that. Something of a departure in style for me, this is a painting you can interpret in many ways. Does it depict humans running away/blown out from the blast, or souls rising upwards to the light? There is no correct answer. It simply captures all my immense sorrow at the loss of life and the irreparable damage to the lives of those that remain, and the hope that light can arise out of such dark and tragic acts.

I was very happy to sell the painting in September, so the proceeds could largely go to help a child orphaned by the blasts.

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