There comes a moment in every life when we stop counting the years we have lived and begin remembering the people, the moments, and the invisible hands that quietly shaped who we became.
Today, when I pause and look back, I do not first remember my achievements. I remember the silent moments that transformed me, the storms that almost broke me, and one
relationship that never once walked away
That relationship was Art.
People often ask me, “What is Art?”
Over the years, I have realised that I cannot answer that question with a definition. Because art has never been merely a subject, a profession, or even a skill.
Art has been my relationship with life.
Seasons changed…..People came and went…..Dreams changed…..Circumstances changed. Even I changed.
Yet, through every season of my life, Art remained.
Looking back today, I realise that my relationship with art never remained the same. Like every meaningful relationship, it evolved—quietly, naturally, and beautifully.
It became my…
Support…Companionship….Togetherness….Presence.
Perhaps that is why, when I captured this beautiful moment through my camera, I felt something far deeper than its beauty.
I wasn’t looking at four children…..I wasn’t looking at the sun.
I was looking at my own life.
Art as Support. When I had forgotten my own strength…
There was a season in my life when I was searching for myself.
Not because I had lost my way…
But because somewhere along the journey, I had forgotten who I truly was. Life demanded answers I did not have.
There were moments when my smile reached the world…but not my own heart.
Art never removed my struggles or answered my questions. Instead, it quietly placed hope back into my hands.
It taught me a lesson I carry even today—
A line does not have to be perfect to be beautiful. Neither does a life.
Every imperfect stroke reminded me that healing never begins with perfection.
It begins with honesty.
Looking back now, I realise that art was never simply colour on paper.
It was the invisible hand that helped me stand before I could walk again.
Like the sun hidden behind clouds, its light never disappeared.
Sometimes…I simply forgot where to look.
Art as Companionship.. When life asked difficult question
Life has a way of changing us…Sometimes gently….Sometimes without warning.
There were seasons when everything outside me appeared normal, while everything inside me was quietly learning how to survive.
People changed..Plans changed…Dreams changed. But art never asked me to become someone else.
It never hurried my healing. It simply walked beside me. When I slowed down, it slowed down.
When I stopped, it waited.
When I cried, it quietly gave my tears colours.
Those colours found my voice long before I found the courage to speak.
That was the moment I realised…Art had stopped being my support.
It had become my companion.
Like the sun, art never promised me a life without darkness. It simply reminded me that light never truly disappears.
Art as Togetherness.. When my journey was no longer only mine
One day I realised something beautiful. Art was never meant to heal only me. It had quietly prepared me to walk into the lives of others.
I began seeing stories in children’s drawings. Hope in unfinished mandalas.
Strength in trembling hands…Silence in colours…Tears hidden within empty spaces. People believed they were creating art…..But I could see…
Art was gently recreating them.
That day, something changed forever….Art was no longer walking beside me.
We had begun walking together into the lives of countless others.
Their healing became part of my healing….Their hope became part of my purpose. Their stories quietly became chapters of my own.
Art as Presence…..Today…
Today, I ask nothing of art—
not healing, not answers, not proof.
Today…I simply sit with it.
Sometimes in colours….Sometimes in silence….Sometimes inside a mandala. Sometimes with nothing more than my own breath.
Art no longer needs to speak….Because somewhere along this journey, I learnt to hear myself…..Today, art is no longer something I create.
It has become the space in which I exist.
It is no longer my language……It is my presence.
And Then… I Understood the Sun
People often ask, “Is this a sunrise or a sunset?”
Today, I simply smile…..Because my answer has changed. I no longer see a sunrise…..I no longer see a sunset.
I only see Light.
The sun rises. The sun sets. Seasons change. People change. Life moves on.
But Light…Light never truly disappears.
Art has always been that Light in my life….When hope faded…When words failed… When life became uncertain…Art remained my Light.
And when I finally found myself…it was still there.
Waiting quietly. Faithfully.
Today, I no longer see the sun as something that rises or sets.
I see it as a reminder that true Light is not measured by time. It is measured by presence.
If someone asks me today,
“What is Art?”
I will never give them a definition…..I will simply show them this photograph.
Because somewhere between those four silhouettes and that endless golden Light…
my entire life is still standing there.
And perhaps that is the greatest gift Art has ever given me.
Art never changed who I was.
It illuminated the life that was always waiting to be discovered.
— Sonali Joshi