This painting is inspired by the sacrificial and all-encompassing relationship between mother and child.

The fabric acts as both a barrier and a bond. It separates mother and child, while its shape echoes the protective layers of a womb, binding them together.

Tiny hands cling to their lifeline, completely dependent, yet already holding incredible power over the people they touch. The painting explores the tension between: power and weakness, dependence and provision, connection and separation; held together by deep love.

These are the inevitable experiences of both parent and child.

While painting this piece, I reflected on God’s decision to come to earth as a tiny, defenceless newborn. The same God who made the stars, planets and earth entered the world utterly dependent.

We might wish that God would answer suffering by removing it. Instead, the Gospel tells us something radical: God answers suffering by entering it.

If His first communication was the cry of a helpless newborn, followed by a life of human toil and ultimately unjustified suffering in death, then our own need and pain are not obstacles to connection with God. They may just be the beginning of it.

The places where we feel most exposed, humbled or devastated may be the very places where He draws closest — not because suffering is good, but because He has chosen not to remain distant from it.

God did not come to still the ache — He came to enter it.

Oil on canvas.
50cm x 40cm