I first saw and drew these remarkable trees two weeks after Russia had invaded Ukraine. The City of Vancouver has published an urban tree map where I discovered that they are Crimean Lindens (Putin annexed Crimea to Russia in 2014 with no international protest). Overlapped and transparent as they are in this painting, these trees are like humans to me in their gestures, their relatedness, their expression. Each distinct from the other in shape, but in their relatedness also a depiction of Us-All.
This painting is a prayer that we choose respect for ourselves, and for the things that make us distinct, equally as we choose respect for Other within a shared humanity that has room for all of us to be loved, nourished and safe.