Peter and the Wave

by Kate Quinn-Wright

“This is a requiem to my brother, Peter Jeremiah Quinn. His death came untimely which made the loss more painful to myself and my four older brothers. He had his demons that he was earnestly trying to conquer. I tried to manifest this struggle with the use of the boy in the sea against the wave. My intention was to show the essence of my brother Peter. He was the quintessential boy at heart - the ultimate Peter Pan, my dearest and most loved brother. He clung to his sense of boyhood throughout his life. This is represented by the brightly colored child’s raft to which he is clinging. In the painting, we never know if the wave or the boy wins. It is left intentionally ambiguous. But what is not ambiguous is the struggle itself. We, as flawed people cling to our rafts against waves every day. We are all flawed children struggling against the tides of dysfunction, brokenness and hardship. However, beyond all this, my brother was the essence joy.”