ASAP

This painting is about the pressure I’ve felt growing up as the child of Sri Lankan immigrants who moved to the UK in the early 2000s. It reflects how I’ve always felt like I had to “make it” to repay them for everything they sacrificed to start over here. The phrase “Always Strive and Prosper” is a double meaning, it speaks to their hopes for me, but it’s also a reference to A$AP Rocky, who’s been a big influence on me creatively since I was a kid. The button eyes are an subtle reference to Coraline, my favourite movie growing up, symbolising how I sometimes feel like I’m seeing the world through someone else’s expectations instead of my own. It’s about ambition, identity, and trying to find my own path while carrying theirs.