Bury Me Standing

Acrylic on found wood panel, in fake wood frame, 2025.

This was my first attempt at roses and castles — the canal-folk style my ancestors painted on everyday objects. The skill was once handed down, taught slowly, perfected over years. No one passed it to me, so I taught myself. It isn’t very good. That’s the point. When skills aren’t valued, they disappear. What’s left are rough echoes — iterations that obscure the original until it hovers, between two worlds. I painted this on a found panel of wood, the way they might have, and framed it in a cheap fake wood frame — a copy of a copy of a copy.

The title comes from a Romani proverb:

“Bury me standing; I’ve been on my knees all my life.”