Building the Foundation
24 x 24" | Mixed Media on Canvas | 2025
Part of the DIG Series by Precious Burger

“Building the Foundation” is a 24 x 24-inch mixed media painting that explores the layered emotional terrain of family, ancestry, and inherited identity. Created as part of the DIG: Excavating the Self series, this work invites the viewer to reflect on the unseen forces that shape us—and the ways we, in turn, become part of what shapes others.

Three faintly emerging faces appear within the textured earth tones, their presence ghostlike yet rooted, suggesting a continuum of connection across generations. These figures evoke a sense of both origin and becoming—of those who came before, and the quiet strength passed down through memory, gesture, and love.

Built from layers of raw sienna, burnt umber, and cool mineral blues, the painting mimics the geological strata of an excavation site. Abstract marks and fossil-like impressions offer visual metaphors for the imprint of legacy—emotional, spiritual, and cultural. Each surface detail hints at untold stories buried beneath the surface, waiting to be remembered.

As with all pieces in the DIG series, Building the Foundation asks: What foundations have we inherited? What truths lie beneath the surface of our becoming? And how do we carry forward what was once carried for us?

This work is for anyone who has ever wondered where they come from—and how their story fits into the deeper foundation of something greater.