New Art Series Coming

Welcome to "Project Abraço"

Abraço - the Portuguese word for hug.
It's soft on the tongue, warm in meaning, and carries within it everything I want this new series to embody.

For the past years, I've followed the traditional path of the artist. Disappear into the studio like a hermit, wrestle with concepts and materials in solitude, emerge only when the work is complete and polished, ready for the world's appreciation (or not).

But what if I changed that narrative entirely?

The Force That Divides

We live in a world that seems determined to split us apart. Left or right. Democrat or Republican. Liberal or Labor. Awakened or unawakened. Spiritual or skeptical. Right or wrong. The force pushing us to choose sides feels relentless, doesn't it? It's as if there's an invisible hand constantly demanding we plant our flag on one side of an imaginary line and defend it at all costs.

I've been thinking about this a lot lately - this compulsion to categorise, to separate, to create distance between ourselves and others. We do it so automatically that we barely notice anymore. We see someone's political affiliation and immediately assume we know everything about their character. We hear someone's spiritual beliefs and decide whether they're "our kind of people." We witness someone's struggles and either embrace them as kindred spirits or dismiss them as fundamentally different from us.

But what happens when we step back?
What happens when we observe this tendency from a distance, like watching a play unfold on a stage? What happens when we remember that beneath all these labels, all these chosen sides, all these carefully constructed identities, we are simply human beings trying to make sense of our existence?

This is where Abraço begins - in that space of recognition, in that moment of seeing ourselves and others as part of the same human experience, regardless of which side of any line we've chosen to stand on.

The Responsibility We Carry

I believe that when I create art, I'm not just expressing my own inner world - I'm contributing to the collective human conversation. When you view that art, you're not just consuming entertainment - you're participating in a dialogue that spans cultures, generations, and belief systems. We are all connected in this invisible web of influence and impact, whether we acknowledge it or not.

Abraço will be about embracing that responsibility. It's about asking ourselves:

How do my thoughts and actions affect the people around me?
How do my choices contribute to the separation or the connection in this world?
How can I use my creative voice not to build higher walls, but to offer genuine hugs - moments of recognition, understanding, and shared humanity?

Breaking the Pattern

This time, I want to do something different. This time, I want to practice what Abraço preaches. Instead of creating in isolation and then presenting the finished product, I want to invite you into the entire journey. I want to share the struggles alongside the triumphs, the doubts alongside the discoveries, the messy middle alongside the polished final pieces.

This isn't just about transparency for its own sake. It's about showing that vulnerability and authenticity can be more powerful than perfection.

What You Can Expect

Over the coming weeks and months, you'll witness everything. You'll see the initial sketches and the abandoned concepts. You'll read about the technical challenges I'm facing and the new techniques I'm learning. You'll follow along as I search for the right gallery, develop promotional strategies, and navigate the business side of bringing art into the world.

You'll witness the evolution of ideas as they move from abstract concepts to concrete visual expressions. You'll get insights into how I make decisions about color, composition, and meaning.

But more than that, you'll be part of a conversation: an invitation to engage, to share your own thoughts and experiences, to contribute to the dialogue that Abraço is meant to foster. Your responses, your questions, your own stories of connection and separation will become part of the work itself.

The Healing Power of Shared Experience

There's something magical that happens when we share our creative struggles with others. By sharing this process with you, I'm hoping to create space for healing - both for myself and for anyone who chooses to join this journey. There's healing in witnessing someone else's vulnerability. There's healing in recognising that our struggles are not unique, that our doubts are shared, that our desire for connection and meaning is universal.

For my students, this will be a real-time case study in how art develops from concept to completion. For fellow artists, it will be a reminder that we're all figuring it out as we go. For anyone who has ever felt divided from others by circumstances or choices or beliefs, it will be an exploration of what it means to reach across those divides with genuine care and curiosity.

An Invitation to Connection

So this is my invitation to you.
Join me on this journey. Not as a passive observer, but as an active participant in a conversation about what it means to be human in a world that constantly asks us to choose sides. Help me explore what happens when we choose connection over separation, curiosity over judgment, vulnerability over perfection.

Share your own experiences of duality and division. Tell me about times when you've felt pushed to choose a side, and times when you've found ways to bridge differences. Ask questions about the work as it develops. Challenge my assumptions. Offer your own insights about art, healing, and human connection.

This is uncharted territory for me, and I'm honestly not sure where it will lead. But I know that the destination will be richer and more meaningful because you're part of the journey. I know that the art that emerges will be stronger because it's been shaped by dialogue rather than created in isolation.

Abraço is about hugs - not just the physical gesture, but the emotional and spiritual act of embracing what we might otherwise push away. It's about recognising that we don't have to agree on everything to care for each other, that we don't have to be the same to be connected.

Welcome to Day 1

Today, Abraço exists only as an idea, a feeling, a commitment to try something new. There is one sketch (that came into my head during a breathwork session) and one artwork I made for a collaboration for the non-for-profit ACasa.org.au.

Tonight, I'll start texting new techniques I'll begin exploring what visual language might best express these ideas about duality and connection. Please don't judge my terrible drawings (I'm a collage artist ahah) and have some brilliant insights and encounter some unexpected challenges. And I'll share it all with you.

This is Day 1 of Abraço.

Thank you for being here.
Thank you for being part of the hug that Abraço is meant to become.