There's a special kind of joy in creating something with your own hands. To me, art was a profound expression of an artist's unique perspective, a testament to our individuality and relationship with the world. To create art is to breathe life into canvases that reflect the way we view the world around us.

One of the most compelling examples is found in Pablo Picasso’s Blue Period — an era mired by grief and melancholia. Born from the tragic passing of his long-time friend Carlos Casagemas, this chapter in Picasso's career weaved various hues of blues to communicate pain and desolation. In doing so, Picasso was able to craft a distinct visual language that conveyed the rawness of human emotions.

Through its exploration of themes of poverty, despair, and isolation, this period offered a poignant glimpse into the artist's own emotional landscape. Picasso depicted subjects considered outcasts to society in ways that highlighted the visceral experience of melancholy. His works often featured prostitutes, drunks, and the homeless doing mundane tasks (Woman Ironing, 1901) or in a state of vulnerability (The Death of Casagemas, 1901). Through his works, Picasso invites us to see the world through his eyes — a world tinged with sorrow, yet imbued with a profound sense of humanity.

Growing up I’ve been told countless times that a mark of a great artist was the ability to capture an essence. I didn’t quite know what that phrase meant back then and I often struggle to understand it now. In philosophy, an essence is the attribute that makes a thing what it fundamentally is. When applied to art, capturing an essence means conveying the intrinsic nature of a subject, whether it's a person, object, emotion, or idea. Essence gives art a sense of authenticity and depth that resonates with viewers on a profound level. It’s what gives art the heart and soul that makes it great. Art that captures an essence is a reflection, art without essence is mimicry.

To create art is to understand suffering. In order to capture the essence of an emotion we need to understand it deeply. When Picasso was at his lowest, he perceived the world devoid of warmth and colour. He cultivated a visual language born out of his own feelings of grief and loss — one that spoke of pain, of loneliness, of isolation. It’s this perspective shown through his works that resonated with so many people.

The act of creation is a deeply personal and cathartic experience for many artists. It’s a process of exploration into the innermost depths of the soul where our emotions are laid bare. To be an artist is to understand the joy of creation. It’s to exist in that space between joy and suffering. To love something so deeply but be haunted by the thought of not doing it justice. Creating art that captures an essence requires a great deal of vulnerability, and it is that aspect of art that often paralyses me. The idea that to create art is to be seen — to expose myself in some way. I used to cower at the thought of art and would often hesitate to call myself an artist. I could never quite construct words the way I wanted or draw the way I envisioned. But to create something that resonates with other people, even if just in passing thought, is something so deeply fulfilling. The point of art is to see yourself in someone else’s work, and hopefully, someone can see themselves in mine too.