"Connection" (2026) Original Mixed-media Painting by Alena Kuschnereit

This painting from the series The Lost Choice explores the fragile boundary between protection and control, love and disappearance of the self.
Two figures dressed in red appear merged into one body, wrapped in a white lace-like form that resembles both a cocoon and a cage. The older figure gently touches the younger one, creating an image of care, tenderness, and inherited identity. Yet the closeness feels almost unsettling — as if individuality is slowly dissolving inside devotion.
The black birds surrounding them act as silent witnesses or omens. They bring tension into the otherwise calm composition, symbolizing freedom, memory, fear, or the inevitability of separation. The landscape itself feels empty and distant, suspended between dream and reality.
The contrast between the vivid red garments and the pale woven texture emphasizes the conflict between inner life and imposed roles. The mesh-like white structure can be read as protection, tradition, motherhood, or social expectation — something that both shelters and restricts.
In The Lost Choice, the act of caring becomes deeply ambiguous. The painting asks where love ends and possession begins, and what remains of a person when their choices are slowly absorbed by another identity.

Materials used:

acrylic, oil

Details:

• Mixed-media painting on Canvas
• One of a kind artwork
• Size: 120 x 150 x 2cm (unframed)
• Signed on the back
• Style: Graphic, illustrative and typographic
• Subject: People and portraits