Simple figures, only the outlines of faces are sketched out. Her subjects’ movements oblige one to contemplate the artist behind the canvas, even the very hand holding the paintbrush. Gifty Amma Potukyan makes emotions dance on her canvas. Akin to a contortionist, she pushes the limits of the corporeal space. For her, this is a ritual, one she must undergo.

Harsh, frontal compositions are without decoration, displaying the human in all their mystery and in all their truth. The visual aspect is refined without added details. Smooth streaks of paint are distributed in bold layers. Such simplicity, that is almost economical, attenuates the brutality of the expression only to intensify further its interiority. The dark color, everything in black and shades of grey with just a few vibrant colors, contributes to this sense of restraint. Such painting combines expressivity and finesse.

Difficult maternities, monocular heads, spirits, ghosts; the subjects who float in the space of her canvas plunge us into a magical world. In that world nothing is certain; the boundaries of time and between cultures have been abolished.

Gifty paints day after day. When painting she forgets the passing of time. Her art offers her the same sense of escape that she felt when she innocently ran at her father’s side. Even if admitting a daughter’s love for her absent father means betraying her own pride and strength, she came to recognize that these were qualities she inherited directly from this man.

It was just a question of time before she chose to reveal herself. Several encounters and decades later, she finally exhibits her work for others to view and interpret. The unwanted child she once was is now an artist acknowledging both her name and calling.