On Becoming

This body of work explores the tension between self-determination and external influence, between being the sculptor and the sculpture. Using self-portraiture in conjunction with clay, an ancient, and deeply symbolic material, I investigate the ways we are both shaped and shapers, molded by external forces yet capable of reconstructing and redefining ourselves. Through the physical acts of ripping, painting with slip, and inlaying gold leaf, I engage with destruction and repair as integral to identity formation. These processes reflect the ways in which we experience fragmentation and the ways we reclaim our agency by piecing ourselves back together on our own terms. This work is particularly rooted in the experience of womanhood, where the body is often a battleground, shaped by ideologies, violence, and the pressure to conform. To sculpt one’s own image is an act of defiance and self-possession, a refusal to be passively formed by external hands. By physically intervening in the surfaces of these portraits: tearing, layering, and reconstructing, I explore what it means to take ownership of the self, to mend what has been broken, and to assert presence in a world that seeks to shape us without our consent. The use of gold leaf, inspired by the Japanese practice of kintsugi, speaks to the beauty and value in the broken. Ultimately, this series is a meditation on personal agency, transformation, and the ongoing process of becoming. It is a testament to the ways we reclaim ourselves, forging wholeness from fragmentation and freedom from constraint.