Description

A signed limited print may be available of this piece! (click here)

All stories feel bigger when you know they are true..

They left everything behind except themselves and discovered.. that was all they ever needed.

ESCAPE

1956. Hungary. The revolt against Soviet Communism. 

4:00 AM, October 25th

Dad had no reason to stay.

Not because he was running. Because the regime had already taken everything worth staying for.

The house. The land. His father's life's work. Gone.

What remained was a decision.

He made it. Mom agreed.

They packed their lives into a few shopping bags and walked toward the border in the morning dark. My sister and brother in tow.

At the border, a flare split the moon-lit sky. The group hit the dirt. My brother screamed. Someone hissed. "Shut him up." Lives balanced against a baby's cry.

The flare went out. They ran for freedom.

---

Dad painted this from inside the memory. 

The man looking back is him, looking at the ruins of what was taken and what was left.

He spent the rest of his life painting towards light. Not one dark canvas. Yet the fire always burned inside him.

They left with no reason to stay. They arrived, reaching for light.

The same light Mom ran toward that night.

I wasn't born yet. But I carry the torch. ❤️🗽

Our escape is described in a short story titled: "The Moon & The Star"

Through My Father's Eyes

I wrote a song memorializing our story, depicted in this painting.

Song: "GET AWAY"

Artist: JTAR