My painting of figures in an expansive landscape is in the New Bedford Art Museum exhibition, “Best of the South Coast,” running from June 12- August 31.

A kneeling female figure under a shade tree, behind her, a vast landscape. Another figure approaches her and is partially obscured. She is in the shade of a massive tree, which extends upward and out of the canvas. The painting seems serene; the serenity is untroubled and unthreatened.

Questioning myself as to the figure in this painting, I began to wonder: what brought her here? Has she always been here? The question of belonging came to mind, and with it our history and links to the land we hold dear.

We imagine we hold land, and we tie ourselves to a particular place. Perhaps our lineage comes from this place. Yet, people move and migrate, plant and build, colonize and claim. Wars are waged to take title away, and the maps change. Belonging becomes a sticky question.

Across all the borders, the thread that ties human activity is the desire to live better, a more perfect olive tree, and to form the environment to which we attach ourselves to our own need.

This woman has a connection to the place under the shade tree. I ask myself, is the connection ancestors, a beloved memory, some other darker event? And is this a leaving or a homecoming?

Painting is a way to explore the human condition. Answers do not always come, but in time, what moves the heart will.

This painting is on exhibition at New Bedford Art Museum, in “Best of the South Coast,” through August 31, 2025. I wish to thank co-curators Suzanne De Vegh and Alison Borges for selecting my work for the show.