The Hand of Fate

Oil on canvas
40 × 50 cm
2021

The Hand of Fate holds a man suspended above the dried riverbed of the River of Life and Death.

No one knows how he arrived here. Perhaps he once lived in peace and innocence before a single choice changed the course of his life. Perhaps he was cast out. Or perhaps Fate itself decided that the time had come for him to awaken.

He is asleep.

His eyes are open to the world, but not yet to the truth. He hangs between heaven and earth, between the past and the future, between who he once was and who he is yet to become. He makes decisions, builds plans, and believes himself to be the master of his destiny, unaware of the invisible forces that guide him through loss, encounters, and transformation.

While he sleeps, he remains a puppet of fate.

The hand does not allow him to fall, yet it does not return him to where he came from. Instead, it brings him to the threshold between worlds—a place where familiar certainties disappear and old beliefs lose their power. It holds him at the point of choice, where awakening becomes inevitable.

The dried riverbed below reminds us that time never stands still. Everything changes, and no one escapes the path they are meant to walk. Sometimes fate removes us from the comfort of our own paradise, not to punish us, but to shatter the illusion of control.

This painting captures the moment before awakening—the instant when a person is still bound by the invisible threads of destiny, yet begins to perceive them for the first time.

It asks a timeless question:

Is fate a merciless judge, or a wise guide?

And could our greatest trials become the beginning of our spiritual rebirth?