Artist: Carly White
Title: Divine Deconstruction
Media: Original Oil 
Size: 30x48 in.
Artist Statement: 
This church I call home is messy. Lived in. Outdated, no doubt. But it’s mine! and I’ve loved it all my life.
Now that I’m older, I see the cracks. I try my quick fixes:paint over wallpaper, air freshener in the corners, stick-on tiles.
Just enough to look better for visitors. 
Then my mother knocks. She and my father built this place. 
I tell her my little plans: remove the floral couch in the foyer, patch the ceiling crack, change up the artwork. She nods, agrees.
Then she looks at me and says:
I can help you flip this place if you’d like…but when you’re ready, I’m here for demolition. There’s a crack in your foundation, and we have to face it. 
I cry. 
Because she is right. I’ve been ignoring it for so long and now there’s a gaping floor beneath my feet. 
And the thought of it…too much. Where do I begin? No time. No tools. No strength.
Then I see hers. Power tools, steady in her strong arms. She has done this before.
The house will be a construction zone, she says. hard to live in for a while. Probably longer than you think. But you won’t be alone. We’ll make this place feel like home again. 
And I think to myself, “who doesn’t love a mother who will get messy with them?”