For the World Citizen Artists Competition I painted Mother & Child to celebrate peace through this image.
The woman and the child are viewed from the back as they walk towards the crowd holding hands. The two characters will join the other people for a walk. People walk side by side, indifferent to others in the street but in an atmosphere of fraternity, friendship and peace. Through my painting I show people from all races, ethnicities and colours walking together. They represent joy, compassion and love. This crowd is a cultural, artistic, intellectual and spiritual melting pot.
This moving scene conveys love and tenderness in a peaceful world in motion. This work shows the picture of a child in society. The child holds the hand of his mother to feel safe and ready to walk in the world when he will be an adult. It is an eternal renewal … birth, life, death .
The mother and child are holding hands and this is a symbolic gesture. The hand gives and receives, we use it to offer our forgiveness, help, friendship and love.
The mother and child holding hands are going together in the same direction; it shows their harmony. The mother and child are a symbol of action, freedom, love and peace since the beginning of the world. The mother and child express fertility, growth, blooming and creativity. The mother gives life and the child takes flight over the earth. Mother and child are depicted in all religions since the creation of the world through sculptures, paintings and music; writing through the centuries celebrates them as the symbol of peace.
Valerie Catoire was born in Pont St Maxence, Oise, France in 1963. She opened her gallery in Kinsale, Ireland in May 2003 and ran it for five years until February 2008. Today she focuses only on her art.