Every act of listening ultimately becomes an act of trust.
Unknown Saints presents a group of smiling saints whose identities are concealed by black censor bars. Although deprived of recognisable faces, they retain the visual language traditionally associated with sanctity: halos, solemn composition and religious iconography.
The work questions the relationship between identity and authority. How much of our trust depends on knowing who someone is, and how much derives from the role, the image or the symbolic framework surrounding them?
The black bars deliberately employ one of the simplest and most familiar methods of anonymisation. Long before the digital age, this visual device already suggested both protection and concealment. Here it creates an ambiguity: the viewer may believe they recognise someone, while simultaneously realising that recognition has become impossible.
The painting also reflects on those whose contributions remain largely invisible. Behind every widely recognised figure stand countless others whose ideas, actions and acts of courage shape society without becoming part of collective memory. The saints therefore represent not only forgotten individuals from the past, but also the anonymous voices that continue to influence the present.
By combining sacred iconography with a contemporary visual code, Unknown Saints invites viewers to reconsider how authority, trust and remembrance are constructed. It asks whether recognition is a prerequisite for value—or whether value can exist independently of being seen.
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