She Raised Me

This painting examines the burden of care placed on children through systems of neglect and imbalance. It reflects on how responsibility, protection, and mentorship were often forced onto someone still growing themselves. Acts of care such as cleaning, teaching, and shielding were imposed by circumstance yet carried out with love rather than resentment. The work considers how love can coexist with obligation, and how caregiving assumed too early shapes memory, identity, and family dynamics. It questions ownership, responsibility, and what it means to be raised outside of traditional structures of care.