March 12, 2026
Written by Gallery & Curatorial Fellow Eva Llopiz
In this piece entitled That Time Away From Family; Abraham Nova and coach Mark Deluca (2024), Masha Keryan begins her series with a touching scene between boxer Abraham Nova and his coach Mark Deluca, the first two people she ever met at the boxing gym. After watching her very first live boxing match at the World Junior League at Madison Square Garden, Keryan felt inspired to begin her series, basing it on the tension, dedication, and the drive that she felt from watching boxers fight. She notes that once a boxer enters the ring, you can see through their moves exactly what they are made of, whether it be fear or confidence. The ring is an extremely vulnerable state to be in, and she found this to be an especially touching source of inspiration. In this scene specifically, Keryan describes that fighter Abraham Nova was about to enter his final round, and coach Mark Deluca said something to him that stuck with her: he said “think of all that time you have spent away from your family,” being the title of the piece. This statement was extremely touching to not only Nova, as he has ten siblings and extremely values his family, but Keryan as well, as she can relate to being very close with her family, and finding that pursuing her painterly career both physically and philosophically restricts her from seeing her family as often. Family is extremely important to many, including them, and time away from family can be seen as the biggest sacrifice. She notes that Deluca and Nova had a very intriguing work dynamic to watch, as they seemed to operate as one vessel. Deluca trains every single one of the boxers depicted in her series, and Keryan wanted to show off Deluca’s dedication and skills in community building along with what she has personally taken from watching each fight she has seen in real life (persistence, faith, dominance; the names of the other pieces). Deluca currently runs a non-profit gym, encouraging young students to join and train. Keryan emphasises that boxing is very much a life saver for young boys, and applauds Deluca for his work in community engagement and teaching for young students.