This painting was inspired by my grandmother and her two sisters. The tulips became a way for me to think about the relationships between them, both during their lives and after death. The tulip on the left represents my grandmother, who died last, the one in the center represents my Aunt Julia, who died first, and the one on the right represents my Aunt Peggy, who died in between them and lived more separately from the rest of the family and someone never knew.
During the final week of my grandmother's life, she often spoke about seeing her sisters waiting for her, their hands stretched out toward her. Even though the three of them experienced distance and separation from each other in very different ways, I like to imagine that in death they are finally together again. Through the composition and spacing of the flowers, I wanted to hold onto both that sense of closeness and distance while also imagining a reunion beyond this life.
