He Kindly Stopped For Me

This work is part of my ongoing _Beauty of Death_ series, which explores the paradox between the beauty of death and the fear of dying. Inspired by Emily Dickinson’s poem _Because I Could Not Stop for Death_, it invites the viewer toward a state of peace with mortality. In April 2014, I experienced a violent home invasion that left me with severe PTSD. In the years that followed, I poured my energy into art as a way to navigate trauma, exploring how mortality weaves through the worlds we build within ourselves. I have come to see that the deepest hells are often the ones we create to live in. The painting presents a dreamlike garden where forms bloom and dissolve simultaneously, reflecting the coexistence of life and decay. Figures emerge from the landscape as if grown from it, embodying a cycle that is both inevitable and tender. My aim is for viewers to drift into these worlds, to wander through beauty tinged with sorrow, and to find stillness in the contemplation of impermanence. This is my largest painting to date and is highly sculptural. Created with beeswax, it was shaped using a variety of sculpting and cake-decorating tools to extrude the thick medium. The work emerged after a long period of experimentation with making my own mediums, allowing me to achieve rich textures that invite both visual and tactile engagement. Through this process, the surface becomes a living terrain, echoing the layered complexity of life, death, and the space between.