28/11/2025
This piece carries a weight that is hard to put into words. I created it for my Uncle in honour of his beautiful Wife, my Aunty Sandra, who sadly lost her battle with an aggressive cancer. They are my best friend’s parents, and my best friend and I have basically been joined at the hip since preschool, so losing her felt deeply personal, like losing a part of our own family.
Aunty Sandra and I shared a love for sunsets. I’ll never forget being there during those final moments, wanting so badly to help yet feeling completely helpless. In that heartbreak, I felt a strong pull to create something meaningful for my Uncle to keep her memory alive. So my best friend and I gently pressed her hand onto a canvas, alongside his, knowing one day I would turn it into a piece that honoured their story and their connection.
For almost a year, that canvas sat untouched. Every time I pulled it out to paint, the emotions flooded back. The grief. The love. The heaviness of knowing what this piece represented. It overwhelmed me every time and I would carefully put it away, waiting for the moment my heart felt ready.
On the week of her one-year anniversary, I finally found the strength to complete it. It was emotional and heavy, but also so healing at the same time. It still doesn’t feel real that she is no longer here, but now my Uncle has something he can hold onto forever. A gentle reminder of her love, her life and the imprint she left on all of us. Art has a way of holding stories that our voices struggle to speak and this piece became the story I didn’t have the words for.
