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Papillion, तितली (Titalee), Butterfly

IMG_8311-2_edited.jpg

Medium:
Oil, Gold, Fabric, and Embroidery on Canvas

Dimensions:
36" x 48" x 1.5"

Artwork for Sale:
Yes

Year Completed:
2025

Description:
This piece will be a part of a triptych called "Papillion, Titalee, Butterfly". All these words mean the same thing--butterfly--but in three different languages. The main subject of these paintings will be my Aunt Durrain who unfortunately was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2024. In 2011, she and my uncle and cousins came to visit me and my family in Ohio (from California) in order to see my grandma Rita before she passed of cancer and coincidentally to go to her funeral. While sitting around our families kitchen table waiting on tea or for food to come out of the oven, we were talking about languages and I was telling my aunt about my favorite words in French (a language I was learning at the time) when she was telling me about some of those words in Hindi and other languages she knows--butterfly being the most memorable word. This conversation stuck with me as I love language and my aunt.

 

When I found out about her diagnosis for some reason this conversation came to me and I thought how going through cancer is somewhat like being a butterfly...it's this metamorphosis of who you were, the treatment and then whatever happens to you after it is all said and done. I wanted to depict that along with other significant symbols within this triptych. Before cancer being the caterpillar stage where there is the unknowingness of what is yet to come. Having cancer and doing treatments stage where things are uncertain and trying but strength pulls through--the cocoon. And finally, the unveiling stage 0f this newly formed person you become after cancer...whether, in my grandma Rita's case, it is death or, hopefully in my aunt's case, it will be remission, one becomes something new--shedding the old life for transformation...the butterfly.

Painting #1: Papillion (French)

The symbols: 

  • Embroidery represents the tying of family ties. The specific designs of the embroidery come from a shirt my aunt once gifted me. The border of the painting mimics the border of the shirt.

  • The Fabric used in the painting is a combination of green upcycled fabric and toile. The green fabric harkens to Ajrak prints which are significant in Pakistani clothing. The black toile represents the smoke inhaled daily by my aunt before receiving the cancer diagnosis (she has since quit).

  • The chair in the background is a recreation of a chair painting done by Pakistani artist AS Rind--one of my aunt's favorite artists from her home country. The chair is also representative of my aunts actions of sitting outside in between cooking meals for the family and smoking a cigaret. Whenever she comes over she prepares huge meals for the whole family--I believe this is her way of showing how much she loves us--and these meals are no joke so it takes a lot out of her...this is why the rests outside are much needed to relax in between cooking meals. 

  • Chai--my aunt being from Pakistan--loves her chai. Many a time I have made chai for her and she for me. It is something that brings us together to share stories, laugh, and teach other/exchange/learn about our different languages and cultures. Chai is more than just a drink for me, it is also about healing and love.

  • The Tea Cup is a replica of a tea cup she once gifted to my mom. I always loved the gold and bright red porcelain and wanted to show this in the painting.

For my most recent works please follow me on Instagram @jlb.art

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