‘Dublin Dreamer’ (2020), 46x46”, 116.8 x 116.8cm acrylic on canvas, mixed media.

The painting is an homage to one of my favourite humans: my Dad. His story began in poverty on Dominic Street in Dublin. As a child, he chased the coal cart for dregs to feed the family fire and shared a bed with three siblings using an old overcoat for a blanket and got his first pair of shoes at the age of six. He lost his father before his fifteenth birthday and went to work on a farm to provide for the family. Despite all these hardships in his childhood, or perhaps because of them, he has always been a generous and loving father. He’s the kind of man who’s always down the street, helping a neighbour.

I wonder at the grace and kindness humanity has to offer, even amidst adversity and suffering. We are resilient beings, fertile with hope if we nurture it to survive the bitterness of injustice.