With a cultural heritage in British India, Matthews inherits artifacts that are both family heirlooms and fraught relics of colonialism, culturally relevant still-life compositions that include inherited objects that reflect family history and the legacy of colonialism: a silver spoon that once served Maharajas on a train; an elephant ivory necklace: a parasol handle…

It does not matter that we do not know whose hands we see in these paintings. They are ours; the hands of those we love; the hands of strangers—human hands. On the wall, they capture ever-fleeting moments of life-holding and life-making. They invite our reflection on action and rest, on agency and possibility.