Behind Bars
2026
Acrylic on canvas
30 × 48 in.
Behind Bars grew from a feeling of confinement—of wanting to free myself and encountering resistance all around me.
White bars cross dark compartments, interrupting fields of pink, orange, and crimson. Their repeated presence gives that resistance a visible form. Some lean or bend, but they continue to enclose the space. The intensity of the surrounding color holds the urgency of wanting to move while feeling unable to do so.
For me, the painting reaches beyond physical imprisonment to a condition in which freedom can be imagined but remains out of reach. What is contained refuses to be silenced, yet being heard does not necessarily mean being free.
I leave that tension unresolved. Behind Bars holds the frustration of confinement alongside a desire for freedom that persists without finding a clear way through.
