When I started working on The Two Faces of Progress, I wanted to show a question that I often think about can development and nature grow together, or does one always have to suffer for the other?
I divided the face into two contrasting worlds. One side is filled with the colours and energy of nature, while the other reflects industrialisation and the environmental changes that can come with it. I deliberately used very different colours on the two sides so that the contrast could be felt immediately.
While creating this artwork, I realised that art does not always need to provide an answer. Sometimes, it can simply make us stop, observe and think. For me, this painting is not against progress. It is about imagining a kind of progress where development and nature can exist in balance.
This is what I enjoy most about creating art—turning an idea or question in my mind into something that another person can see, interpret and perhaps think about differently.