Artwork
You Are My Universe
Private Collection
2019 · Oil on Canvas
A star-filled galaxy above a field of flowers — earthly life and spiritual expansion held together in one work.
The Story Behind the Painting
You Are My Universe was created during a period of profound spiritual expansion in Vani’s life.
The painting brings two worlds together. Below is the earth, represented by a field of flowers: the physical world in which life is lived, responsibilities are carried and one’s work must ultimately be done. Above it stretches an immense, star-filled galaxy, representing the higher realms, the universe itself, unexplored possibilities and the growing awareness that existence may extend beyond what can be experienced in ordinary physical life.
Yet the painting is not about leaving one world for the other. It is about remaining grounded in earthly life while becoming open to the possibilities of spiritual expansion.
At the heart of the work is also a deeply personal expression of love and acknowledgement. You Are My Universe is addressed to a person or being who, for Vani, was central to that period of expansion. Amid everything opening beyond the familiar, the words carry a simple recognition: however vast the universe becomes, you remain at its centre.
The painting therefore holds both the earthly and the spiritual, the personal and the infinite: an awareness of one’s work in this world, an openness to what may exist beyond it, and gratitude towards the presence that helped make that larger universe visible.
