Never Forget Me 16" x 20" (original)

"Never Forget Me" by Aisel Thakur is a painting with rich history. She began painting this in 2012, at the dawn of her art career. But she kept it unfinished. After her first time in the Himalayas, Aisel knew something was expected of her. Of course, at the time, it all seemed unreal. But upon returning to New York, she painted more. It takes her almost no time to paint, but before finalizing, she steps back and assesses, "am I the person I want to be upon finishing this piece?" 

The answer is usually 'no,' she says. The reason for this is something deeper than people imagine. Right before finishing this piece, Aisel had awful flashbacks. She says that if not for stepping back from her unfinished pieces, she never would have gone to therapy. She realized that the way she created art was in a frenzy. And she often hurt herself and others to do it, too. Such self-reflection is not "for the normal artist," says Aisel. She says she only does this because she knew her purpose. 

She is a bridge. She waits in the in-betweens to let people pass. She doesn't have control where they go after they meet her, but she knows if they passed through, they were meant to. This painting was unfinished because of the reflection. If you see up in the photos, you'll notice the original reflection was much more stark, and Aisel mentioned it was not right, but she knew how to fix it, but refused to. Her body locked her. 

So from 2012 till 2026, the original reflection sat up on the wall in Aisel's childhood home. And as soon as she retrieved it, she finished it in September. To let the painting know that all this time, she never forgot how she wanted it to be. And that's why this painting seems just a little lonesome. Almost as if to say, "never forget me, I'm here waiting patiently."