80×80 cm, oil on canvas
„Legacy is not leaving something for people, it's leaving something in people.” – Peter Strople
I don't have children yet, but I experience how much the time invested in us is worth and what that heritage meant that I received from my parents: the fact that they taught me what true values are, how important it is to love one another, to do good to everyone, to respect our fellow human beings, to help whoever we can. They taught me how strong an anchor faith and hope are in our lives, that there is a God who is close to us.
One generation goes after another. The great-grandparents are gone, the grandparents are gone, and my father is gone too. My father inherited a book from his grandparents. In it, there was a Bible verse for every day with an explanation. In my great-grandfather's family, my grandfather's family, and in our family as well, it was a tradition for the family to sit down every day and read from this book. This book was my father's inheritance, but since he is gone, my mother reads it daily, sometimes my mother and I.
For the background of the painting, I used this book (scanned, printed, and glued to canvas).
When I hold this book in my hands, I am always touched by a strange and beautiful feeling, as I think that ancestors of mine whom I never even knew also held it in their hands every day.
Time touches me… I feel the faith and hope that they carried in their hearts.