overgrown

This collection of self-portraits tells the tender tale of my lifelong tug-of-war with my hair. Wild, willful, and wondrous. My curls, a constellation of coils, have always been both a crown and a cage. For much of my life, each strand held the identity of cultural tradition and expectation of religious standards. At times there was too much hair to manage on my own and other times it was buzzed down to my scalp. Through each painting you'll witness a quiet unraveling. Ribbons loosen, changing their color at times as I explore my sexuality, rules soften, and the tight coils of learned, ingrained conformity begin to spring free. As my tresses grew wilder. so too did the suppressed corners of myself. Stretching towards the sun; I bloomed shyly at first then boldly and now colorfully. This is not just a story of hair. but of becoming: an awakening, a reclamation, a rebellion, and a return to the roots of who I am.

2025