Commissioned during Mum’s final weeks, the painting was a reminder of the power of art in times of grief.
My mother was dying. One day, half-blinded by tears, I stopped halfway on the daily drive between her home and the hospital, at an old disused petrol station that had been converted into an art gallery. Inside, there was a striking collection of Indigenous paintings. I was stunned that such beauty could still exist in the ugliness of the world I was experiencing.
In the days that followed, he contacted me several times to tell me he’d been painting with Rockin’ Rod blasting away in the background, channelling her spirit and feeling a real joy in her energy. He sent me videos of the artwork’s progress, with the canvas moving up and down to the sound of a train.a few days after she died, two weeks after I asked him to start painting it.
“Art therapy can bring closure and provides a way to let go and process emotions and regret,” says Eshak-Liuzzi. “It’s the process of art that’s the enabler for the processing of emotions. Buying, or commissioning, a piece of art to mark life’s major milestones – sad or happy – can offer great solace, says art adviser James Dorahy. He even commissioned portraits of his beloved two dogs to commemorate their passing.“It’s a modern memorial, if you like, being able to look at something you associate with the subject,” he says.