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“Lost in Translation”, Rosenblut & Friedmann, Madrid

During Spanish painter Pablo Picasso’s Blue Period (1901-1904), he essentially painted in monochromatic shades of blue while reflecting on his own emotional turmoil during a difficult period in his life. Inspired by this, Batungbacal chose to withdraw from her usual bright color palette and express her feelings of isolation by creating this painting of her living room during the winter of 2022.

 In an excerpt from her journal, she writes: 

“Everyone says that they love winter but all I feel is fucking cold. It’s been difficult to get out of bed and once I finally do, I still struggle to get myself out of the house. I’ve been feeling lonely and homesick and so far away from the people who know me best.” – December 17, 2022

“I moved into this apartment almost 2 months ago but it still hasn’t felt like home. I look around and everything is grey. The walls are grey, the furniture is grey, the tiny hint of sky that I can barely see from the interior windows is grey. In my mind, this entire apartment is grey and I’m struggling to figure out how to give it a little more color.” – January 9, 2023

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