Kaos! - No. 3 (The Twins) by Steph Lasater

24x18", acrylic on canvas
3-piece collection
 
In March of 2026, my mother died suddenly from complications due to chronic alcoholism at the age of 62. The pain and shock left me thinking about love, legacy, and remembrance. As a child, my biggest fear was that my mother would die alone, and suddenly my biggest fear became a reality. I was left with the desolating thought, when I’m gone, will anyone remember my hero? The tendency for those we love to fade into the background of life, forgotten to future generations, happens all too quickly and quietly. While my mother is gone, I can make her live forever. As artists, we are blessed with the unique ability to give eternal life to those around us. It was dropped, like a gift in my hand, portrait artist. My love, dedication, and infinite longing for my mother became the impetus to create art dedicated to her in order to permanently engrave her legacy into the world. My mother had dozens of full photo albums, and I’m using her documentation of her own life to create work over the course of mine to immortalize her, a project entitled “Kaos!: In Memoriam,” after the nickname from her family. In doing so, I have given myself a healing mechanism. At 24, so much of her life will forever remain a mystery to me, but I have gotten to know her more through these pieces. I have sat in front of my easel and cried, laughed with her while I memorize the lines in her face and the shape of her teeth. Even now, with her gone, I can conjure her through my paintings to see her smile and hear her laugh, the gift she passed down to me. This is my final gift to her, lasting lifetimes.