Emigration Series
"A story of exile"

The Emigration Series began in 2019 during the COVID-19 lockdowns, when travel restrictions prevented me from returning to the United Kingdom to visit family. These paintings explore the emotional landscape of migration: the tension between leaving one home and building another, and the sense of dislocation that accompanies cultural transition.

Using abstraction as a visual language, I layer gesture, colour, and symbolic forms to reflect memory, loss, and the search for belonging. Although rooted in my own experience, the work speaks to broader themes of exile and identity that resonate across cultures and generations.

Through a language of form, colour and texture, I seek to convey the intangible yet profound essence of the human experience, specifically, the resilient spirit that emerges in the face of health challenges.

The palette I employ is a fluid dance of vibrant and subdued tones, mirroring the dynamic spectrum of health and the ever-changing landscape of resilience. Each brushstroke and layer becomes a visual metaphor for the resilience that resides within, waiting to be unearthed and celebrated. The abstraction becomes a means of transcending the confines of the tangible, allowing for a more nuanced exploration of the intricate relationship between mind, body and spirit.

In my studio, I confront the challenge of conveying the intangible aspects of health through non-representational means. The juxtaposition of chaotic and harmonious elements on the canvas mirrors the unpredictable nature of the health journey—a journey marked by setbacks, breakthroughs and the constant dialogue between chaos and order.

'This Is the Love That Has Been Poured Into Our Hearts'

Ink, Acrylics, Pastel, Oils on Canvas.

100cm x 80cm

'This Is the Love That Has Been Poured Into Our Hearts' was painted in the early days of the Ukraine-Russia war, when the world felt fragile and grief was everywhere. Rather than dwell in despair, the painting becomes a declaration—a response of fierce, divine love.

With layered brushwork in golden yellow, Australian Sienna, and Vermilion Red, the painting carries a majestic, heavenly energy. It echoes Romans 5:5: “God’s love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.”

Even in darkness, this love still pours—fiery, holy, unshaken.

'Crimson Eyes'

Acrylics, Spray Paint and Gouache in Canvas.

80cm x 100 cm

'Crimson Eyes' is the first deep breath of the emotional journey, painted in the thick fog of depression.

Influenced by Ed Sheeran’s 'Bloodstream', the work pulses with raw intensity: a landscape of inner chaos, sadness and flickers of numbness; the emotional turmoil one might experience when the end is near and the start of something new, not yet known, is approaching the horizon.

The colours feel like veins and prayer and bleeding thoughts.

Where 'A Splendid Sunrise', from my Spiritscapes series, captures a trembling hope on the horizon and 'Rise and Shine' offers a revival call, this piece, 'Crimson Eyes', is the ache that comes before both, before decisive action is reached.

It doesn’t hide. It sits in the heaviness and somehow, even there, it breathes.

'Rise and Shine'

Acrylics, Ink, Oil on Canvas.

90cm x 90cm

'Rise and Shine' follows the emotional and spiritual journey hinted at in 'A Splendid Sunrise', from my Spiritscapes series. Where Splendid explores the quiet inner wrestle; anxiety, a racing heartbeat, that flicker of fear before dawn, 'Rise and Shine' answers it with a divine call.

The horizon doesn’t just warm, it commands. This is the moment God calls His people to rise, to step forward into revival, and to shine with purpose.

Together, the two works trace a path from trembling in the shadows to walking confidently into light, both personal and prophetic.

DALE PATTENDEN

Contemporary Fine Art

Emigration Series
"A story of exile"

Emigration Series "A story of exile"

Emigration Series
"A story of exile"