THE LOVERS (Original)
The Lovers is not presented here as a romantic ideal but as a meditation on choice, attachment and freedom. In the Tarot tradition, the Lovers card is often misunderstood as symbolising romance alone; more truthfully, it speaks to alignment, values and the moment in which one must choose what they are bound to - and what they are willing to release.
At the centre of the composition are the adidas trainers, a recurring motif in my work representing the self in motion: the individual moving through life, shaped by decisions made one step at a time. Leaning against them is the Lovers Tarot card, positioned deliberately alongside a pair of handcuffs. One cuff lies open, appearing to hold the card within it. This ambiguity is intentional. Love, belief, identity or commitment can either imprison or liberate, depending on whether it is entered into consciously or inherited unquestioned.
The red roses laid across the trainers introduce the language of passion, devotion and sacrifice. Roses have long symbolised love but also its cost - beauty accompanied by thorns. Here they suggest that genuine connection is never without vulnerability and that intimacy requires exposure rather than possession.
On the opposite side of the composition rests a pocket watch, representing time and the attempt to capture a moment. It speaks to how love often exists in fleeting clarity - those rare instances of alignment when life feels whole and coherent. Yet time cannot be held indefinitely. Moments pass, relationships evolve and what remains is the consequence of the choices made within them.
Taken together, the objects form a quiet tension. The painting asks whether love is something that binds us or something that frees us; whether commitment is chosen or enforced; whether we are present in the moment or enslaved by it. The open handcuff offers a possibility rather than a conclusion: freedom is available but it requires awareness and responsibility.
The Lovers reflects a broader theme within my work - transformation through conscious choice. It is not about idealised romance but about the courage to love without surrendering autonomy, to commit without losing oneself and to recognise that the deepest bonds are not chains but acts of deliberate alignment.
Material: Oil on Canvas
Size: 150 x 90 cm
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