Give thanks (2020) – 61 cm x 43 cm – Acrylic paints on card
(Donated to The Alan Koppel Gallery, Chicago – June 2020)
Chicago was a city I thought I’d never visit, being from the UK: New York, LA, and San Francisco were more prominently featured in my awareness through films and Silicon Valley tech culture. I received the opportunity to visit Chicago at the end of 2019, during Thanksgiving week for a work project. This piece sums up my time visiting the Windy City.
I was standing in Millennium Park on a crisp evening, overlooking the stunning skyline. Standing out among the darkness of the skyscrapers was a warm, glaring message ‘GIVE THANKS’ displayed cunningly out of window lighting. I stared in awe and wanted to capture this moment of immense gratitude through this artwork.
The gratitude for being in Chicago, for being invited to a colleague’s home for my first ever Thanksgiving meal, for the gifts and the warm hospitality my colleagues gave me on my trip, and for being able to travel alone and feel comfortable was profound. I was very anxious as a younger adult, and the appreciation for such a simple thing was not lost on me in that moment.
