Embers of Care.
“Embers of Care” is a 100-painting series celebrating the strength, resilience, and profound contributions of migrants in the UK healthcare sector.
This project is inspired by Yayen’s transition to working as a nurse in the UK. The experience has allowed him to engage in a large diversity of people, stories, and challenges. Relocating to a new country has revealed to him incredible resilience within migrant communities working in the healthcare sector, who bravely navigate tough transitions: cultural shifts, isolation, sacrifices, and many other challenges. He resonates with these experiences and believes art can powerfully celebrate achievements, highlight resilience, and foster pride and a sense of belonging. Each piece reflects unique journeys and experiences, highlighting sacrifices and the transformative impact on the communities they serve.
Through art, Yayen seeks to bring visibility and recognition to the often unseen hands and stories that sustain the healthcare system.
This abstract painting titled Journey explores the themes of life, its journey, and the diversity inherent within.
The bottom canvas is covered entirely with freehand circular strokes, representing life's journey. These strokes reflect how life is not a straight path but rather a maze of experiences. While each person's journey is unique, this composition attempts to illustrate a shared truth - that all of us will encounter the same twists and turns, navigating through life's unpredictability in our own way.
A large circle made of circular strokes on the canvas above symbolizes the core of one's life, embodying growth and transformation. Surrounding this central circle, ripples of various colours, shapes, and lines emanate outward, symbolizing external forces and influences such as cultures, friends, and experiences that shape our core identity. The red background evokes the energy and passion required to navigate life's challenges, while the ripples illustrate how everything revolves around the central self.
This painting reflects the idea that life's journey is a process of being shaped by various actions and influences. Life is what forms us, and every experience, challenge, and connection contributes to our growth. At the same time, life is also what we make of it. The artwork emphasizes the balance between being shaped by life and actively shaping it, highlighting resilience, self-determination, and the power of embracing your own story.
This artwork is included among the paintings of Royal Marsden Hospital, London.
"We Are One, I" is a visual testament to the significance of diversity and inclusion in healthcare. The artwork features nurses of various ages, backgrounds, cultures, shapes, and sizes, each portrayed with circular strokes of black ink to symbolise their interconnectedness and their journeys' unique paths. The painting communicates that there is strength in a collective, but the true power lies in diverse experiences, perspectives, and identities. The representation and involvement of people from all walks of life are vital to progressing as a unified collective, symbolised by the figures facing the same direction. The artwork is part of Royal College of Nursing’s permanent collection.
