Mika Obanda

Yeah, I've done it with coloured pastel.

Coloured pastel.

The artwork is called Sacrificial Lamp.

The artist is like a sacrificial lamp because they hold nothing behind and they are free with what they express.

Getting dirty in the studio is one of the things I think that inspires me.

I don't know about other people, but for me, I think that in the studio, I think I have to really get messy.

Yeah, that's why I feel like I'm being creative.

Like now I'm really making art.

Around midnight, I was going out to pour some water.

Then I saw some people coming from up here.

So I was thinking maybe just something has happened.

I went and slept.

So then the next morning, my mom was calling me and telling me that everything has just been involved in the fire accident.

I felt like all my effort, everything that I've been putting together to prepare me for the future and for my career has gone to nothing.

I saw how everything is on the floor.

I was crying, a lot of crying actually.

I could not control it.

Then my mum, my sister came, tried to hold me together.

It was a feeling of numbness for a period of time.

I remember I just thought that everything that I've ever worked on is gone and never come back again.