RAISED EYEBROW MIDDLE FINGER VIBE

This mask-like object carries the weight of invisible labour and unseen care as a woman, mother, carer, and artist. In a world that demands too much and gives too little, it becomes a raw and unfiltered expression of exhaustion and advocacy. Inspired by Kafka’s Metamorphosis, the mask reflects how society dehumanises those who don’t fit the mould. Like Gregor Samsa, we become trapped -monstrous not by nature, but by perception. Made from repurposed fabrics that were once valued and now discarded, the mask symbolises how care and compassion are cast aside in modern life. The dense, almost obsessive embroidery fills every space, echoing the mental load and invisible work women carry. Each stitch is a quiet refusal to give up, a fragile act of holding things together even while they are falling apart. The bullion knots embody this struggle: small, fiddly coils bound by just enough tension to stay intact, much like a woman’s persistence for basic, fair human rights. This mask is a response to the absurd expectations placed on women. It is not about concealment but confrontation -an unflinching gaze that asks, “Are you kidding me?”

SOFT ARMOUR

Clinging to hope feels like a lifeline for survival in our current uncertain times. The world is a confusing place, fuelled by greed, anger and a lack of care and compassion for the very simplest of humanity’s needs. At times, I feel like Gregor Samsa in Kafka’s Metamorphosis -dehumanised, misunderstood, and trapped in a shell that isolates as much as it protects. Raising a child with a disability has amplified how harshly systemic failure can impact and exhaust the carer. Mutated, broken and changed, we metamorphose into something else. This piece is a materialised version of big feelings. Its amorphic and hybrid nature raises questions about what it is. It’s unknown yet bodily and familiar, grotesque yet intrigues touch. Like armour, it becomes the space between, the push and pull.  It becomes symbolic like the shell of womanhood in a world that demands endlessly yet offers little in return. Its rattiness reflects exhaustion from carelessness and invisible labour. Constructed from discarded fabrics, it speaks of neglect and society’s disconnection from care, compassion, and community, while the very tactile nature of stitch and repair is what holds it together, like resilience shielding the vulnerability.