Between Leaving and Returning by Shama Shams

Shama Shams

Between Leaving and Returning

Mixed Media on Wood

12 x 12 x 1 in

$250

Published in the January House Literary Journal.

This piece reflects hope through movement, memory, and the search for belonging. The solitary figure beside the rickshaw exists between stillness and transition, surrounded by layered urban textures that feel both familiar and weathered by time. The distressed surface and fragmented imagery suggest the ways memory shifts — preserving certain details while allowing others to fade.

The rickshaw, often associated with labor, migration, and daily survival, becomes a quiet symbol of endurance and continuation. Despite the visual erosion throughout the piece, light remains present within the landscape, offering a sense of persistence and possibility. The work considers unwavering hope not as certainty, but as the act of continuing forward while carrying fragments of home, history, and identity.