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Back Home, 2023
Acrylic on canvas, 14″x18″

When I started this painting in April 2021, my goal was to capture a memory of when I first visited my parents village back home, for them their first visit after 30+ years. I can still feel the warmth of the sun on one particular morning. Amma was heading out to the temple with my aunts, Appa was riding a bike down the lane. I was making my sister pose for photos, trying to save every moment.

This day now feels like a different era of my life, knowing this was the last time we would visit Eelam together with Amma. No longer getting to hear her back home stories and comments on all the plants and flowers we would come across. Finally finishing this painting, after she passed away, it has come to represent a yearning for a time where I didn’t know grief like this. A reminder of how grateful I am that we were able to go back to your childhood home, Amma, and see it together. And a symbol of a chance at carving a path forward, with you still guiding the way.