Charcoal pencil on paper
From the exhibition Between Forms
There is a quietness in Back to Self that feels different from the other works in this series.
The figure is turned away. There is no face to read, no expression to interpret. She is simply there, seated within herself.
After the strain, interruption and gradual return to form explored throughout Between Forms, this drawing feels like a quieter arrival.
Not a return to who she was before.
A return to herself as she is now.
I am drawn to the female form because it can communicate something without necessarily revealing everything. Here, the body is exposed, yet the figure feels private. Her turned back creates a boundary. There is vulnerability in the drawing, but also a sense of ownership and self-possession.
The lines remain loose. Nothing is overly resolved. I don't think returning to yourself means becoming perfectly defined again.
Perhaps it is simply reaching the point where you no longer need to be.
There is something restful in that for me.
Throughout Between Forms, the body and mind move through different states: holding together under strain, fragmented by thought, recalibrating and gradually taking shape again.
Back to Self is where I wanted that movement to become still.
Not fixed.
Not finished.
Just back to self.
