Details: 34x34 Inches
 
Original acrylic mixed media painting on canvas. 
 
Please allow 2-4 weeks for Anu to prepare the painting for delivery.
It will 100% be worth the wait!
 
Painted in 2022-2024
 
Painting Story:
What are your initial thoughts when you look at this painting? Reading the title alone lends so much to the story.
 
Cacti grow in dry places, right? We've got to learn to grow in dry seasons or something like that, right? Yes, of course, and: There are many people who go through dry seasons in life and internalize it without really taking the time to understand themselves or how to respond; we don’t dig deep. Cacti cannot thrive without their root system. The roots grow deep into the ground for water. We become a direct reflection of our environment instead of knowing what we need to thrive.
 
Now, do you see the sap-like material on her fingers? When a real Cactus is injured, it secretes sap. The milky substance is also called latex, and it helps the plant heal from physical damage. There are even times when secretion is poisonous in an effort to defend the plant.
 
This is supposed to represent internal injury, in this context, from people close to us.
 
Does it hurt? Oh yes, so much. That sap, that pain, that trauma, if you let it, lends to your healing. You become what you would have never had context for if you take the time to do the work. You even become poison to those who attempt to hurt you in that same way again, and I don’t mean you become toxic; I mean your function becomes poison to someone else’s dysfunction who doesn’t want to change. That, in itself, brings a different kind of dry season because you can't get water from those around you, and there is a period of loneliness that is meant to build your resilience!