Baptism inverts the ritual it borrows its name from. Where sacred tradition promises purification and rebirth, figures surface from opaque, eel-infested water wearing long-nosed masks — not cleansed but replaced. The faces still above the waterline register what is about to happen. Those already submerged have already become something else. The painting sits at the exact threshold between knowing who you are and agreeing to forget it — the moment every initiation demands and no one talks about afterward.
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