​The small town I grew up in comprised of refugees from Laos who clustered together like debris, discarded after a devastating event like a War. When the dust had settled, and the struggle of adapting to the new landscape was everything but simple. I can’t put into words or create a representational image of the shock that my family felt relocating to the middle of Kansas. The shape of the painting is reflective of a budding lotus flower that is about to bloom. I wanted this piece to be tall and large enough to reflect the growth, but a cacophony of emotions of what they went through to have a life worth living.