Afsos

Afsos: Sadness
अफ़सोस
11" x 14"
Acrylic and Gold Leaf on Canvas
Cake: The Mental Health Series
Completed February, 2022

Part of the Cake series, this piece is Afsos: Sadness. Layered like cake, this series is rich in texture.
 
This piece is a meditation on depression. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, depression is the leading cause of disability in the U.S. for ages 15 to 44.3. In any given year, depressions affects more than 16.1 million American adults – about 7% of the U.S. population.
 
Shades of black and grey capture the prickly flatness of life without color, an allegory for that period of drowning in grief. It is that cognitively knowing that once upon a time, you felt differently. The floating gold remnants of joy seem to have lost the power to propel you. Even the promise of a light at the end of the tunnel seems flawed. This piece holds space and empathy for that profound sadness.