Synergy

The final piece in the Sapphic Series was conceived more than a year ago and attempted three or four times before this one — but it never felt right. It simply wasn’t ready until Christine finished it in April of 2026. It is the most vulnerable and honest work in the series, which made it the hardest to bring to canvas. Spare and seemingly simple, with only a few elements, it holds some of the most profound discoveries: of self, of true connection, of vulnerability, and of safety. Here the two “S”s are linked in an intricate way, mirroring how two people can find a connection greater than themselves. That kind of bond asks for self-trust, trust in one another, sensitivity, and a willingness to be vulnerable. Nothing is plainly black and white. Old learned behaviors and inherited expectations of intimacy had to be rewritten; the nagging doubts of the mind — around self-image, self-acceptance, and control — had to be quieted in both people before a true and profound connection, a real synergy, could take shape. The chain of “S”s rests at the center of the canvas, atop a tarnished white and patched-up black ground that frays into grey above two emoji faces, their expressions hidden. The links run in bold, bright colors that seem to flow through one another as one. Where one “S” ends and the other begins is impossible to tell — the two have melded into something larger than themselves: a shared energy, ever-changing.