Some paintings are made for galleries. These were made for two people.

The Guardians is Silvana Gorgiev's most personal collection — a tribute to her parents, painted with the full weight of love, gratitude and memory. Every work in this collection carries a hidden language: the flowers are her mother, abundant and beautiful and life-giving; the fruit — the pomegranates, the persimmons, the pears — is her father, deep and nourishing and quietly sustaining.

The pomegranate, which appears throughout, carries the weight of Byzantine tradition — a symbol of eternity, abundance and the sacred. But here it is also something more intimate: a portrait of a man whose quiet strength shaped everything.

This collection was years in the planning. It is Silvana's way of saying thank you — and her hope that in looking at these works, you might find your own memories of the people who have held you up.