Thank you Session
Client:
Year:
Acrylic on Raw linen
101.5 X 142 cm
2025
Thank You Session is the final event of the day, where the person in charge formally expresses gratitude to the staff, participants, chief guest, and audience for their presence and support. This painting was inspired by a personal memory of such a session. That memory resurfaced recently when I saw Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy thanking the United States profusely after a meeting at the White House, despite having already expressed his thanks around 94 times. It made me reflect on how governments, too, must perform rituals of gratitude, perhaps even more so in times of crisis.
As someone born in the Tibetan diaspora, a refugee in India, this sense of gratitude runs deep. India gave us the space to be born and to become. America helped feed our children. France spoke up when our voice was small.
And many more, whose kindness crossed oceans and borders, even when we could not. We were raised to thank again and again, not out of habit, but out of memory, humility, and hope. And still, there is more to thank. Always more.