Anxiety

8'' x 11 1/4 "

This is a portrait of my grandmother, illustrating her worries and anxieties.

The strings of thought can be interpreted as lines that bore into her skin, aging her with fine wrinkles.

Alternatively, the way they extend from the cloud of burden that hovers constantly above her, and attach to her skin, seem to resemble oxygen tubes and life support. Often I feel that my ahmah clings on desperately to details from the past and present, because she worries that they are slipping away. It could be that worrying is her conscious effort to get through life.

This work was selected to show in Drawing Works, a juried exhibition by Nova Benway, curatorial assistant of The Drawing Centre, New York.