Living in the in-between, a dualistic existence, gave birth to one of my painting concepts. In some of my works, I juxtapose my models with an image created by myself; a real image with an imagined one, so that two fields become one. Words from poems and images from original paintings have been projected and painted onto the bodies of my daughters, like tattoos that seep into their beings attempting to speak a new story. My artistry is a way to empower my daughters. Each painting shines a light on the stories shared between, with and for daughters and mothers. These stories can be transferred to a larger global context inviting others to think about the stories that our young girls carry with them in our societies today. So, I am not only a painter, but also a storyteller. Each painting is paired with a written narrative, a story that reveals something intimate and essential about my daughters: who they are, who they are becoming, and the quiet magic they hold within. These stories are modern day fairytales, that talk about those very personal issues that our young women are forced to face every day. They tell of a young womans search for courage, for voice, for beauty and imagination and I am sure that they echo the universal longing for all our daughters to be truly seen and understood. As a mother-artist, I feel an urgent responsiblity to preserve and pass on the knowledge of storytelling. In a world increasingly driven by noise and distraction, storytelling, especially through art, becomes a form of resistance, a grounding thread that connects past, present and future. My paintings of my daughters are not just visual objects; they are repositories of growth, of memory, identity and hope. They are a way of saying: “We were here, we lived, we loved and this is what it meant.”