Analogous (SOLD)

24″ x 48″ x 1.5″ mixed media on canvas.

I draw on my own lived experience to understand and relate to the experiences of the people I care about. Is this how empathy works? It is helpful when I parent and my kid is frustrated or sad, or when a friend is in a tough place. It makes the stories I hear real. When I was in Uganda last in 2018, I was struck by how absurd this practice can be – how can I possible relate? How can I possibly imagine our lives are somehow analogous?

My relationship with some of the young people I have been working with since 2011 is a complicated one. For a few of them, I think I am a safe person for them to talk to. After all, I am not part of their daily lives. I come and go and take their stories with me – I will not gossip in the neighbourhood. This thought about the absurdity of trying to relate struck me as I sat, listening to one girl tell me her story of when… It is a difficult story, and we both cried as she shared it. In reflection, I suppose I was moved because I could in fact relate, on a very human level… not finding our lives somehow comparable, but rather relating simply in our shared existence in that moment.