Granby Celebrates Juneteenth 2023 videos courtesy of Simsbury TV

“Harmonic Hills of Hope” | Acrylic on Canvas | 24x30”

I decided to title this piece “Harmonic Hills of Hope” as it was inspired by the 2nd Annual Granby Celebrates Juneteenth event.

This year I zoomed outside of one flower to create a field of them. I included the tobacco flower which represents the industry in which many people of color worked the fields for. They are mixed in with African violets which symbolize devotion, commitment, and faithfulness. The combination shows the strain of our past and the need to commit to bettering our future. In essence, we remember the pain, recognize it, and then aim for our best in an honest way. 

The flowers are clustered until they disperse closer to eclipse. This demonstrates freedom. The two sets of prayer hands are rooted in this spirit. The open palms are depicted as Islamic prayer position whereas the palm-to-palm hands are positioned for usual Christian prayer. Regardless of specified belief, the very presence of faith means hope and betterment. 

The sky is intertwined with the ground to create a feeling of oneness. They are folded into each other to create rich layers of beauty taking into consideration our turning tides as humans. There are approximately 50 stars illuminating, leading us to the rare eclipse. The cosmic convergence is surrounded by a heart shaped light that drifts into the night. The thought is to make this unity a more recognizable occurrence. Various beliefs can be aligned to seize what’s most important ~ our faith within each other as beautiful beings sharing this same planet.