The second painting in The Radiant Collection is not of a child.
It is of a woman holding one.
Her name is Marlene, and the baby in her arms was one of the first little ones to come through Daybreak House in 2023. She is not posing. She is not performing. Her eyes are closed and her cheek is pressed against a tiny head, and she is smiling the way you smile when nobody is watching and something in your chest has gone soft.
August is Women’s Month in South Africa. On the 9th we mark National Women’s Day. It felt right that this month, the painting should turn its attention to the women who make Daybreak House possible.
Este’s words
“This painting is of one of the beautiful mothers at Daybreak House, but she represents so much more than one woman.
She represents every mother, caregiver, volunteer, visitor, donor and pair of hands that has helped love, hold, comfort, nurture and care for these precious babies.
Because behind every little life is a community of people who choose to show up.
Hands that feed. Hands that hold. Hands that wipe tears. Hands that pray. Hands that work. Hands that love.
This month, I want to celebrate the women behind the scenes, the ones who give of themselves so generously, often without recognition, to make sure these babies experience love and care.
This painting is my tribute to all of them.”
Why the hands
Look at the painting long enough and you notice that the hands are doing the work of the whole picture. One cradles the back of a head. One supports a small body. They are not delicate hands. They are working hands, and they are holding a life.
That is what happens here every single day, and almost none of it is ever seen. The 2am feed. The load of washing. The bath, the bottle, the rocking, the whispered prayer over a cot. Nobody photographs those hours. There is no applause at the end of them.
But God sees them. Every one.
“Let all that you do be done in love.” 1 Corinthians 16:14
The auction
The Hands That Love is the second original painting in The Radiant Collection, a collaboration between Alabaster Box Gallery and Daybreak House for Vulnerable Babies. The original is auctioned live on our website for one month, and every rand goes directly to the care of the babies and toddlers at Daybreak House.
Opening bid: R2500
Auction closes: 31 August 2026
To bid, visit The Radiant Collection on our website.
To every woman who has fed, held, prayed for or given toward these babies: this one is for you.
