‘Get Better Soon’
2024
Acrylic on Canvas
1000mm x 1070mm
Get Better Soon is a work shaped by Tervo’s ongoing use of painting as a way to process mental health, memory and emotional intensity. The piece reflects the birth of his twin daughters, who arrived prematurely and were placed in two separate hospitals, one in neonatal intensive care and the other in special care. The fluorescent pink field carries the shock, pride, love and heightened emotion of that moment, as well as the surreal force of becoming a father.
During that period, Tervo and his partner were surrounded by kindness and support, represented here through the flowers. At the same time, there was a deep awareness that, despite all the help around them, the responsibility to rise to the occasion ultimately sat with them. That tension is held in the balloon, which becomes a symbol of endurance, pressure and the fragile effort of staying upright through uncertainty.
The work is also connected to Tervo’s long relationship with his psychologist of ten years, to whom the painting was gifted on his retirement. In that context, the piece becomes both a personal reflection and an act of gratitude. It speaks to survival, care, vulnerability and the often unseen labour involved in becoming well enough to keep going.