Sophia Rose - 'Walk Beside Me'

“Grief doesn’t end, but it changes. It is a passage, not a place to stay. It is not a sign of weakness, nor lack of faith. It is the price of love.” ~Anonymous

We mourn for an infinite amount of reasons; at any given moment we may lose a partner, a mother, a father, a friend, a family member, or even a child. We may even mourn for a friendship, a partnership, or relationship. Grief is one of those insurmountable feelings we all fear, because it is impossible to live life without experiencing it. We grieve because it is human nature to love.

This exhibit is an exploration of my own relationship between grief and love. I lost my mother when I was 11 years old, and even fourteen years later I still keenly feel that loss. I grieve the relationship we had, the moments she missed, and everything I never got the chance to tell her. In creating this body of work I opened wounds that went ignored for a long time, but I also came to realize that every ounce of pain is a physical embodiment of the love I still have for her. Grief is not something to “get over”. It is something you learn to walk beside for the rest of your life, and it can be a beautiful thing.

The colors I have used in this show, blue and red, represent grief and love respectively. Blue invokes feelings of sadness and despair, but sometimes it can mean comfort and calm. Red is passion and love but it can also be warning and danger. I invite you to take in these images and evaluate your own relationship with grief, and find the beauty that can be hiding in that dark space.

Bio:
Sophia Rose has been an artist her whole life, drawing nonstop from an early age. Born in Hawaii and raised in Denver, Colorado by her Artist parents, she has had a deep connection and reverence for art of all forms. Although she has no formal training, she picked up Acrylic painting in 2020 during lockdown and through thrifted art books and YouTube she discovered a passion for painting semi-realistic and monochromatic imagery. She works and teaches in Colorado Springs, Colorado and has a studio space at Cottonwood Center for the Arts. She has been fortunate to appear in many group exhibitions since her first show in 2022, and currently has a piece showing at the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum for their show featuring work by female artists in Colorado Springs.

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