Hope at a Crossroads
Encaustic, ink transfer on beeswax

Hope at a Crossroads is a visual reflection on resilience, transformation, and the quiet strength found in forgotten places. The painting depicts the historic Hope Worsted Mills Co. in Germantown, Louisville, KY—a former textile mill now repurposed but still bearing the beautiful patina of time. Railroad signals and industrial towers stand as reminders of the building’s past life, while its current form speaks to reinvention.

Hope isn't always polished—it can be weathered, stubborn, and grounded in grit. But when it endures, it grows strong in the cracks. The title nods not only to the literal railroad crossing but also to our cultural moment—where we, too, stand at a crossroads, reckoning with the past while shaping what’s to come.

This piece is part of a series exploring the layered identities of architectural spaces, and how memory, labor, and place continue to shape our emotional landscapes. Created through ink transfer on beeswax, each element is pieced together—echoing the way memory, history, and structure are built over time.