In 2022, two of my works received recognition in The American Art Awards in the Abstract / Digital Art NFT competition.

At the time, I was still at an early stage of developing my artistic practice.

I was experimenting extensively — with abstraction, fluid materials, colour and processes that allowed an element of unpredictability to remain in the finished work.

There was no established visual language yet.

There was mostly curiosity.

Receiving recognition for two works therefore mattered to me not as confirmation that I had found the right direction, but as encouragement to continue searching.

Looking back, I think this distinction is important.

Early recognition can easily become something an artist tries to reproduce. But repeating what has already been rewarded can also become a limitation.

The more important lesson for me was simply that experimentation could lead somewhere.

The recognition was meaningful.

The permission it gave me to keep searching mattered more.