Against all odds

Faced with the “Faces” series, the artist Christine Barone questioned the origin of her desire to hide part of the portraits.
Certainly it represents the inner world, the hidden part of oneself, but she felt that there was something else, something deeper. Like a flash, she realized that she was creating these paintings as a mirror, in the literal sense of the term, of the way in which she apprehends the world. Being deaf in her left ear, the outside world opens up to her right.
It is from this observation that “Against All” was born.
The hubbub of the world is represented on the right by waves evoking sound waves. She likes this graphic design for the satisfaction it gives her when creating it with the charcoal which slides on the wood and the Indian ink which provides a deep and shiny black.
And on the left nothing, a big void, just crossed out with a textured brush mark.
She deliberately left the corner of the panel at the bottom left chipped in order to evoke the interior wounds but also this lack.

Why this title?
It expresses the daily battle that this deafness pushed her to face in the face of incomprehension, mockery, and difficulty integrating into certain conversations. This painting takes us back to our own struggles to find our place in this world.