Holding On
A boldly figurative artist, Despins has an established career under her belt, and a recognizable painterly style bolstered by exquisite execution. In her recent series of works, she focuses entirely on hands—the tired hands of an elderly woman. “These are my mother’s hands,” she opens her statement, and the viewer is instantly carried into a world of both unbearable intimacy and creative beauty. Standing in front of the first of the pieces—all titled Holding On and numbered—there is no question that one is on hallowed ground, no doubt that Despins’s mother is no longer here, that these are works born of grief, and that an overwhelming creative impulse was needed to transcend it. These are, indeed, transformative compositions in the sense of their visual impact and in the way that Despins subverts verifiable reality.
— Dorota Kozinska, La Vie des Arts. 2019
Ce sont les mains de ma mère.
Lors de mes visites, j’ai été fascinée par celles-ci. Blotties l’une contre l’autre, elles semblaient chercher à se réconforter mutuellement. Comme si ce contact, cette sensation de chaleur, permettait de repousser inlassablement le constat du vide que ma mère ressentait de plus en plus vivement dans les derniers moments de sa vie.
J’ai tenté de mettre en évidence ce geste singulier, celui de retenir le dernier élément tangible qui lui était présent avant le grand dépouillement.
