‘This work is an exploration of the idea of hope, an attempt to create an image of hope itself. The inspiration behind it underwent many evolutions – originally it took the form of a garden dedicated to my mother in law who recently passed – but its underlying concept of hope as reflected by nature’s cycles of death and rebirth endured.

Amidst a series of paintings in which figures appear to be just barely holding themselves together, Miracles of Ordinary Light emerges suddenly, a shock of vibrant colour and life.

Unlike the other works, there is no figure in this painting. The beauty and glory of nature is figure enough. As humans, we tend to lock ourselves in our own worlds, beholden to our own joys and sorrows, ignoring our part in the larger circle of life as if we could remove ourselves from it. By distancing ourselves mentally, technologically, and materially from nature, we not only fail to see nature’s wonder but also our own place in that wonder. We react in shock and horror to discover that we, too, are but one fragment of something far grander than our laughter and sadness.

This tree, like all trees – as well as all birds, mountains, stars, and people – will live, die, and be reborn again. Even when our species completes its designated passage through the universe, the world will continue to turn, the cycle persisting indomitably. Our place in this wondrous continuum is reason enough for hope.

I wanted to honour the beauty and size of a tree, and by doing so make something that reminded us that amidst death and grieving something grows beside us. At present, as we look for some sort of miracle to wash away this pandemic, making this tree became my own meditative search for hope.’ – María Berrío