Community Canvas is an initiative presented by The Culture Show where GBH features artwork from community members on our Digital Mural.
Today’s mural features artwork from Deborah Peeples. The circles function as distinct characters in this painting, evoking ideas of wholeness, symbolic voids within us, the cyclical nature of life, and notions of femaleness. Through variation and repetition, these forms assert their presence and reflect a yearning to be seen. As an adoptee, her work mirrors an ongoing exploration of identity and the search for belonging.
“In deciding what to reveal or conceal, I grapple with both fear and a longing for authentic visibility,” Peeples says. “The interaction between exposed and obscured layers becomes a metaphor for emotional transparency, reflecting the interplay between vulnerability and resilience.”
Peeples is an abstract artist who paints with encaustic and exhibits nationally. She holds a B.F.A. from Washington University School of Fine Arts and also studied at the Lake Placid School of Art. She returned to a full-time art practice after raising her family and working for many years as a community, social, and political activist.
See more of Melchiorri’s work on Instagram @debpeeplesart and debpeeples.com
