Two Cities
2026
Acrylic on canvas
40 × 40 in.
In Two Cities, I explore the distance between a city’s public image and the lives that sustain it. Above the water, the skyline stands as the city people see: visible, admired, and full of promises. Below it, a reflected city suggests the world inhabited by those who keep that image shining while struggling to share in what it offers.
The reflection appears to belong to the city above, yet that connection offers no secure footing. For me, it represents the illusion of participation: being close to prosperity, contributing to it, and still finding its comfort and security beyond reach. What remains real is the daily effort to keep up—the work, pressure, and exhaustion beneath the appearance of success.
The blue band of water connects these two worlds while holding them apart. Vertical traces pass through both, binding the skyline to its unstable reflection. I use this relationship to ask who gets to inhabit a city’s promises and who must continually labor to preserve them. The city shines, but its reflection carries the cost.
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