Painting to Create Connection

Connection as a Core Material

Painting allows me to create connection.
It may be the most essential aspect of my artistic practice.

This connection is often invisible, silent, yet deeply present.
It’s born in a glance, a shared emotion, an unexpected conversation—or simply in the quiet moment of feeling understood when standing before a work of art.

I feel it during exhibitions, studio visits, and commissioned projects.
But what I love most is meeting people—listening, sensing, sharing.

Sometimes, a personal story or feeling connects me to someone I didn’t know just moments before.
And it’s in those fleeting moments that my work finds its true meaning.

A Time of Inner Transition

After the birth of my second child, I experienced a strange shift.
I was filled with joy—and yet, I felt a certain emptiness.
Not a painful void, but a subtle disconnection. As if part of me was floating, in transition.

That’s when I felt the need to return to the material.
I began to explore pigments more instinctively, more intimately.
Through color, texture, and gesture, an inner exploration began.

And from that process came a new series: “Celestial Fragments.”

Celestial Fragments: Nine Canvases, Nine Passages

The series is made up of nine paintings.
Nine fragments of life, emotion, and experience.
Each canvas represents a piece of a story, a burst of feeling, a step in transformation.

Looking back, I realized that the number 9 was no accident.
It clearly echoes the nine months of pregnancy, but also something more:
A complete cycle—of creation, transition, and inner evolution.
A powerful symbol that spoke to me far beyond the context of motherhood.

A Powerful Encounter

During an exhibition, a collector stopped in front of Celestial Fragments.
She observed each piece with rare attention. Then, gently, she came to me and said:

“I’m pregnant… and I don’t know why, but these nine paintings speak to me—like the nine months I’m living right now.”

Her words moved me deeply.
She had given voice to something I hadn’t yet fully articulated.
Through her eyes, I understood that my work—born of a deeply personal experience—had touched something universal.

At that moment, we were no longer artist and viewer.
We were two women, connected by shared experience, by emotion, by a work of art that made space for that connection.

When Art Becomes a Bridge

That encounter left a lasting mark on me.
It reminded me that artworks never truly belong to the artist.
They come to life again through the eyes of others—those who recognize themselves in them, who project their own stories onto them.

For me, painting is not about producing images.
It’s about offering a space for connection—between myself and others, between the personal and the universal, between the intimate and the collective.

And it's in these simple, suspended moments that art becomes alive.
That it moves beyond the frame and reaches something deeply human:
The need for connection, meaning, and mutual recognition.

Are You Interested in a Custom Work?

Would you like a painting that tells your story?
You can book a meeting on my website, or write to me directly at:
📩 julia.etedi@gmail.com