An homage to Klimt’s painting Hope II (1907–08). A pregnant woman literally cultivating the world's hope within herself, a woman bearing humanity’s most priceless gift - a new life. That is what Klimt painted, and that is what art critics sing in chorus across their countless essays...
What is this painting about for me? Perhaps about the fact that, in truth, there is no hope. Any mother knows that chthonic terror that closely follows the news of pregnancy - she looks around and, perhaps for the very first time, clearly sees the horrific world into which she is about to bring her child. The mere fact of life is not enough for us - we crave happiness, safety, and freedom for our children. But do they exist in modern society? No, not these cheap surrogates forced into our hands and minds under the label of safety and happiness... but real ones, confirmed by our genuine feelings?!
Nature is clever; it dazzles us with hormones, distracts us with romance, and feeds us dreams so we don't look around - because otherwise, no children would ever be born. Reading the news about wars, catastrophes, crises, and deaths is enough to serve as the most reliable, cheapest contraceptive.
You carry a child, and the hope that the world will be able to protect them dies. Yet nature abhors a vacuum, and in place of that lost hope, a new one rises - the hope that this child will be able to protect the world. That your child will be the one to change something, to become that missing particle of light humanity needs to find its way out of the dark. Perhaps this hope is futile too, but a mother's heart will never let it die...
(Digital drawing, 2026)