Steadfast Painting

“It is so easy to be hopeful in the daytime when you can see the things you wish on. But it was night; it stayed the night. The night was striding across nothingness with the whole round world in his hands. They sat in company with the others in other shanties, their eyes straining against cruel walls and their souls asking if He meant to measure their puny might against His. They seemed to be staring at the dark, but their eyes were watching God.” ― Zora Neale Hurston In Desireé Vaniecia’s latest body of work, the artist found a calling for the unknown that she is facing in her life as she maneuvers through the pandemic. The unknown is understood as something to be feared or to be prepared for; however, Vaniecia’s work studies at the unknown, trying to accept it and document how it changes her and the women around her. Carefully depicting the void through hard strokes and layering of colors, portraying her struggles in coming to grips with who she was and who she has to be. Figures are settling into the canvas striving for answers in the nothingness. This exploration of the void becomes a proven reality that solutions are not exposed on command but rather unleash our capacity to accept this moment and grow from it.