Oh the masks we wear, dear Ziggy

32x32 (Framed)

Acrylic on canvas

It can be hard to sit with yourself, in your own skin. I wonder if we truly do know where we begin, and societal expectation of who we are end? The masks we put on for others and worse, the ones we put on for ourselves.

My daughter created a work when she was a child named, 'Three faces have I.' It was a response to a life threatening diagnosis of mine, and her words articulate so much that I'd love to share them with you.

"This face represents my family and how cancer causes us to always feel, and often be in different places at different times but we still always manage to stay connected.

I remember hearing my Mum talk about a quote once that goes something like, “Everybody has 2 faces – be careful of those with 3.” And I feel sometimes like cancer has given us 3 faces. There is the Public smiley face, the private and terrified face – and then the face that we all try to protect each other from seeing.

My Artwork is very childish. I kept thinking about life before cancer, and how things used to be. I wanted my Artwork to represent that time. The smile – which is way too big for the face, is about how fake it feels sometimes to smile through the tears. I think that sometimes when you smile and it’s fake, they are bigger, and not real looking at all.

The green eye represents jealousy. I try so hard not to, but I do get jealous of my friends who don’t have their lives revolved around cancer and hospital visits. And they don’t have to miss their Mum all the time.

The bird in the corner represents our bird Modi who has reminded us throughout this to try take things less seriously. He is like a little bright creature that reminds us of hope and joy, which I think is so important in a journey like ours.

We are lucky we three. We have each other, and all our faces."