Childhood Quest

This is a painting of my younger brother. He—and all curious children—are my heroes because they visit every corner of the world with curiosity. Their adventures are small in scale but immense in spirit. Watching him has taught me that heroism emerges in the everyday willingness to step into the unknown. 

The piece also draws loosely from the structure of the hero’s journey: every epic hero follows the cycle of departure, initiation, return. Childhood itself can be seen as the first and most universal hero’s journey. For a child, the call to adventure is not a goddess nor a prophecy but the pull of curiosity: a forbidden creek or the unknown neighborhood street. Along the way will certainly come trials and allies. Older siblings might appear as mentors, companions, or even tricksters. Just as in the great epics, the childhood quest is both external, unfolding through play and exploration, and internal, a shaping of identity. 

By painting my brother mid-quest, I hope to honor the imagination and openness children bring into the world, and more specifically, how their courage expands our understanding of what a hero can be.