Artist Statement
“The Small Things I Want to Remember” began with a simple impulse: to slow down and pay attention to my toddler’s childhood while it is happening.
I photograph small, ordinary moments: standing in a puddle, balancing on a rock, pushing a toy, wearing an oversized hat, disappearing into play, then later return to those photographs to sketch. I am not trying to create formal portraits. I am interested in gestures, movement and the fleeting details that make up a childhood.
Working from photographs allows me to hold onto these moments while translating them through the intimacy of hand-drawn line. Some works remain in quiet pen and ink; others are touched with watercolour when colour feels essential to the moment. Together, they form a small visual archive of a childhood unfolding in front of me.
The petite scale of the works feels particularly meaningful. Childhood itself is made up of small things: small shoes, small hands, small discoveries, small adventures that can seem insignificant in the moment and enormous in retrospect.
Although the subject is my toddler, the work is also a record of my own life as his mother—the experience of watching someone become himself, knowing that every stage is temporary.
These drawings are my way of saying: I was here. I saw this. I want to remember.
Biography
I am an emerging artist based in Metro Vancouver whose practice is rooted in observation, drawing, and the quiet details of everyday life. Working primarily with pen and ink and watercolour, I create intimate works inspired by people, plants, places, and fleeting moments of connection.
My practice is rooted in the act of looking closely and finding ways to preserve moments that might otherwise pass unnoticed. I am drawn to the gesture of a child absorbed in play, the shape of a plant in a garden, or a familiar scene encountered while travelling. I photograph these moments and return to the images later, using drawing to study what caught my attention and preserve the feeling of the moment.
Since becoming a parent, childhood has become an important part of my practice. Watching my toddler discover the world has made me more attentive to movement, curiosity, and the beauty of ordinary experiences. These drawings have become both a creative practice and a personal record of this fleeting period in our lives.
Through my work, I hope to create images that feel intimate and recognizable—small observations that invite viewers to pause, remember, and see the everyday with renewed tenderness.
Website: naveenavijayan.wordpress.com
Instagram: @naveenavijayan