Rachel Del Bono

Holiday Greeting Card

1/3 Oil and acrylic paintings apart of the series "Everything Leaves Except Me"

“This painting confronts isolation from familial relationships. It uses references to family traditions, specifically around the holiday season, and a portrait of my dad and myself from when I was younger to contrast the drastic change in relationship presented in the text bubbles. This painting adapts holiday imagery to confront tradition and the loss of my connection to it, it also touches on the ending of a relationship with a parent. “ Holiday greeting card” represents years of childhood trauma slowly building up to a prologued ending. It represents the ending of one of the most important relationships in my upbringing, someone that cannot be replaced or fully forgotten and something that I will forever be reminded of. A significant part of this painting is my younger self having a direct gaze on the viewer. The eyes of the figures within the other paintings are not visible except for my own, signifying the innocence of youth, unaware of the trauma about to unfold at the hands of others. Naive and unknowing of what is yet to take place.”