Caroline Belanger
For Ryan, 2021
Mixed media on paper
20 x 16 in.
(50.8 x 40.7 cm)
Private Collection

This piece is a commission which I created for a friend who sadly lost her nephew Ryan to cancer in 2019. He had been a star baseball player with a promising future ahead of him, but his life was tragically cut short by the devastating disease. He is still sorely missed by the family.

To respect the deeply personal reasons behind the commissioning of this piece, I worked closely with my friend on ways to infuse Ryan’s character into the composition right from the outset. When she conveyed that the focus should be on baseball—but not look too “baseball-y”—we landed upon a muted palette and an abstract approach to the form of the baseball itself. I studied the intricate stitching on a baseball and how it appears when viewed from different angles. The inclusion of 11 baseballs was intentional, as a way to pay homage to the number that he so proudly wore during his time on the high school baseball team.

Pieces such as these remind us that art not only has the power to enthrall, but also, to help with the healing process during some of life’s darkest moments.