"Empathy Fragments" Rachel Allen

Rachel Allen, Oklahoma City, OK

Empathy Fragments, 2025

Mixed media Shadow Box

10 x 14”

In relationships, common ground is often where repair begins. The cross formed in this piece recalls a first aid kit — a place where healing happens together. Textured gold leaf carries what conflict can teach us: luminous fragments of understanding earned through trust. Across each reddish orange painted canvas fragment, two black squares repeat quietly, symbolizing the act of returning to one another again and again, like the rhythm of a heartbeat.

At the center, an eye bears witness. Difference, damage, and return exist within the same frame. Here, common ground is not sameness, but the choice to heal, to learn, and to return to one another with deeper understanding and love.