The Weight of Witnessing Print

‘The Weight of Witnessing’ centres a big, watchful eye in turquoise, with two grey feathers framing it like protection or wings. Two dark tears fall from it and land in a field of tiny red flowers on thin white stems. Around the edges are textured bands of rust orange and white, like hands, or ribs, or the stripes of a zebra. The paint is thick, layered, and raw — nothing is smoothed over.

As a neurodivergent person, I feel everything deeply and I see everything. Sometimes that looks like this: watching, feeling, and crying for things most people walk past. The eye is hyper-awareness. The feathers are the softness I try to hold onto. The tears aren’t sad — they’re watering something. Those red dots are the small bits of hope, care, and beauty that grow anyway, even after hard days. This painting is about being sensitive in a loud world, and letting that sensitivity become something gentle instead of something to hide.