Bati | Painting | by James Sweeting

"A soldier looks onwards as he to his homeland, Fiji, from service abroad in Malaya. The viewer observes as he blissfully ponders what awaits. He is our uncle, our brother, our nephew."

I take portraiture as my way to bestow a specific type of dignity on a certain moment, a reverence that only comes through meditation and stillness. I get to relive the moment a hundred times carving from my eye into tangible existence.

We can document what it’s like for us today and show what we revere and what’s worth remembering at this moment. To me this is all about heritage. If in a hundred years someone wants to know what I thought the most beautiful thing to spend time pondering would be, I’d want them to see families and people with joy in their faces, excited, nervous, hopeful, proud. We need to hold joy in our hearts and that’s what I intend to do through portraiture here.
Medium: Oil on canvas

Dimensions: 440mm x 540mm

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