I Carry You With Me Always

Highly commended

2026
oil on cardboard suitcase, paper collage
35 x 60 x 18 cm

This is one artwork, shown open and closed.

This work reimagines a suitcase as an archive of inheritance. Lined with photographs of my family, it carries images of love, youth and ordinary life — moments that existed before and after war, but were not untouched by it.

On the outside, my uncle and grandfather guide my mother and aunties forward — my uncle is only 18. They move between light and shadow, holding hands as they descend. The scene is less about battle than about passage: the quiet movement from innocence into responsibility, from visibility into silence.

These men served in wars across different generations. returned altered in ways that were difficult to name. Their struggles with mental trauma were carried privately, and painfully. I live with PTSD from my own service, and I have come to understand how trauma can travel, not as spectacle, but as atmosphere.

This work reflects on intergenerational strength and fragility. How trauma, love and survival are packed away yet continue to move with us. The children descending the steps suggest vulnerability and continuity: we inherit not only stories of bravery, but silence and injury.

Through painting and collage, I invite viewers to consider what they carry — and what quietly carries them forward.