First Spring after You by Christine Choi

Size (cm): 121 x 91
Oil on Linen

This painting began with a 55-year-old black-and-white photograph passed down from my sister. In it, my mother appears fragile, almost weightless. At just 32, newly widowed and left to raise three daughters under nine in poverty, she stood at the threshold of her first spring without my father. That season could not have felt warm or hopeful. The ground, still frozen with grief, demanded resilience before renewal.
Yet, for the sake of her children—smiling brightly in the photograph—she endured. She carried on with quiet strength, embracing a life she did not choose, and lived it with dignity. Today, as her memory gradually fades, this moment remains vivid to her: that first spring after loss.
Through this work, I reflect on the tenderness and courage embedded in memory, and the enduring light that persists even in the coldest seasons.