The Watershed Moments series began in August 2017 as a visceral response to the events in Charlottesville. Distressed by the rise of hatred and division in the country, Qualls turned to her studio to process the question: How could this be happening? Working on a monumental scale, she originally utilized scaffolding to move across five eight-foot-tall vertical canvases, translating her grief and prayers into paint.

This specific piece, painted in 2024, continues that essential dialogue but introduces a distinct shift in perspective. As the smallest of the Watershed Moments pieces, it breaks away from the towering vertical scale of its predecessors. Its light, metallic color palette offers a completely different energy—turning the series away from raw grief and toward a quiet, resilient light. The initial layers still carry the dark pigments representing the weight of our history, but the metallic surface reflects light rather than absorbing it.