Releasing  

The first crack in the cage begins with a question: do I have to?

Barbara Puto, 2026
 

She is no longer asking what shaped her. She is deciding what no longer gets to stay.

Releasing / Wyzwalanie
2026

Oil on canvas
100 × 60 cm
From The Construction of Freedom

Releasing

Freedom does not begin when the cage disappears.

It begins with doubt.

With a small, uncomfortable question directed at something we have obeyed for years without even realizing it:

Do I have to?

Releasing is about the moment when what once seemed unquestionable begins to lose its power. A belief. A fear. An expectation. A way of seeing ourselves. Something we have carried for so long that we have mistaken it for part of our identity.

Breaking away from it is not simple. If a limitation has become part of who we are, removing it can feel less like liberation and more like tearing away a piece of ourselves.

And yet, something has changed.

The figure is no longer only enduring her structure. She begins to separate herself from it. Not everything has fallen away. Not everything needs to. Freedom here is not an act of destruction, nor an attempt to erase the past.

It is an act of recognition.

This shaped me.This is part of my history.But this no longer has to decide who I become.

Perhaps freedom begins exactly there — not when nothing influences us, but when we finally reclaim the right to decide which influences we continue to carry.

 I begin with the imprimatura and sketch the figure directly onto the prepared surface. At this stage, I establish the posture, proportions, and direction of the body. The image is still quiet — only the first structure of the figure is taking shape.

01. First Sketch

I introduce the background around the figure, keeping it calm and restrained. At this stage, the space does not compete with the body — it gives the figure room to emerge and prepares the painting for the tension that will come later.

02. A Quiet Ground

Yellow erupts into the painting. The figure begins to carry its own light, and the ground intensifies that energy. For me, this is the moment when decision becomes visible — not yet as freedom, but as the first force capable of opposing what has held her back.

03. The Yellow Breakthrough

The figure closes her eyes. The background behind her begins to move, and I use that movement to model the body and increase the sense of inner tension. She is no longer reacting only to what surrounds her; something is beginning to happen within.

04. Eyes Closed

I apply the net while tearing, fraying, and breaking it apart. Some fragments are absorbed into the body, while others are already falling onto the ground. The structure is still present, but it is losing continuity and control. At the same time, the face begins to carry more emotion — the act of release is no longer only physical; it becomes visible in her expression.

05. Tearing the Net

I make the net denser and build the surface with impasto. The hand becomes deliberately powerful — it has to carry physical strength and decision. The figure is not free yet, but she is no longer passive. She has begun to reclaim agency.

06. Releasing