A painting called Hope

Yesterday, I was at a café. While leaving, I saw a painting hanging on the wall titled “Hope.” An entirely black acrylic and chalk painting titled “Hope”? This intrigued me, and I decided to take a closer look. The more I looked, the more I understood.

The ridges on the painting carved out a door-like structure in the center bottom. One could see the vast expanse of blackness behind this cage. The prisoner – you – in this cage is free to step into the darkness, into the unknown. But why would he take that risk? Isn’t it better to stay safe here? There seems to be no risk in staying here, but what exactly is “here”? “Here” is the cage that the prisoner is in – a mundane life of infinite nothingness. It may be safe, but it is also static and stifling. Thus, the prisoner hopes to break out into something new and worthwhile.

But even if he does step out and wander away, where is the payoff? What is the prisoner hoping to gain from leaving the prison? That’s where the golden hue at the top of the painting comes into play. Whether this hue, seen because of the light placed above the painting, was intentional or not is unknown. But it adds a defining arc to the painting. Because what is hope but pitch darkness with a shimmer of gold at the horizon? The shimmer that makes the treacherous path of darkness worth it.

As I was eventually pulled away from the painting, I concluded that it was aptly named “Hope.”

Shardul