Acrylic, Oil, Coloured Pencil, and Holographic Assemblage on Wood Panel
24x30in
2026
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N0V3MB3R SKI3S is a self-portrait exploring cultural dichotomy, transformation, and the strange coincidences through which we construct our sense of identity.
I was born on November 11 in Bangladesh, years before Canada became home. After immigrating, my birthday became inseparable from Remembrance Day—from school assemblies, poppies, the national anthem, and a collective grieving of the sacrifices that shaped the country I was learning to belong to. Celebration and mourning occupied the same date. I've always been fascinated by serendipity, and I still wonder whether this uncanny alignment somehow contributed to my preoccupation with identity, or if it is simply a coincidence I've chosen to give meaning to.
Blue became the language through which I could explore that uncertainty. The painting draws from a particular blue I associate with the coldest Canadian winters, when even the air seems to change colour. Growing up, that atmosphere often signalled another beginning. My family moved frequently, and the cold became intertwined with memories of arriving at new schools, adapting to unfamiliar places, and reconstructing a sense of belonging.
In the portrait, my hand rests against my chest while the familiar red poppies of Canadian remembrance transform into blue flowers and partially obscure my face. The gesture sits somewhere between patriotism and uncertainty, while the flowers allow me to be visible and concealed at once.
That tension feels increasingly personal. After years of painting cultural figures, my own life and work have become more public. Here, I turn that visual language toward myself while resisting complete visibility.
Being brown is a racial experience. Being blue is universal. N0V3MB3R SKI3S exists somewhere between the two—a portrait of belonging, memory, coincidence, and the identities we continually construct from them.
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The work comes with a certificate of authenticity and ships in a natural oak frame.