Many ATCKs have found that various forms of art are an effective way to express their thoughts, emotions, or feelings more clearly than words. This week, Acacia Haspels shares a painting that depicts the idea of separation from family and the place called home.
International Isolation is an oil painting depicting how isolating it feels to live in a different time zone from your family. The painting is split in half, with one side being in black and white, while the other side is in full color. The black and white side represents the TCK, who is living separately from their family. The full color side is the side where the family is. The clock (symbol for time) depicts the actual 8-hour time difference between Nairobi and Kansas. It features a country silhouette to indicate which is which. The clock sits on top of a college textbook to depict the time difference that began when moving to college. The Kenyan side features an Acacia tree, a native Kenyan species, to symbolize family and the beauty of Kenya. There are four bee-eaters sitting on a branch, symbolizing the four family members who still reside in Kenya. One more bee-eater is flying towards the black and white side. This symbolises one family member who is moving to the US to start college, but still lives apart from the TCK. On the United States side, there is a girl (self-portrait of Acacia) sitting beside a chair. An empty chair is a symbol of loneliness. In the background, it is raining, which is a symbol of sadness. In the rain is a skull, which symbolises crumbling mental health. The full piece aims to convey the isolating and lonely nature of living far away from family, a fairly typical experience for many MKs.
Acacia Haspels is an artist who was born to missionary parents in Kenya. In her younger years, she lived in Northern Kenya near the town of Lokichogio, which is near the then Sudanese border (current South Sudanese border). However, she spent the majority of her youth in Nairobi while attending boarding school at Rift Valley Academy in Kijabe. After high school, she moved to Sterling, Kansas, where she studied art, education, and sports management at Sterling College. Now she uses those degrees to teach art in Buhler, Kansas, with hopes to coach soccer in the future. At the same time, she creates intricate, surrealistic artworks packed full of symbolism and hidden meanings. This includes artworks depicting what life is like as a TCK/MK.
