Almost myself - Painting

Almost Myself Original painting on canvas · 110 × 180 cm I was thinking about the things we learn to hide, and how easily someone else’s opinion can become the voice inside our own head. We hold ourselves back, sometimes without anyone asking us to anymore. The faces overlap and their expressions shift. I wanted them to carry that uncertainty of feeling one thing and showing another. Among them, the horse is the part of us that still wants to move freely, even when we have grown used to holding the reins so tightly. The small red marks are thoughts that stay with us. Given enough room, they can spread until it becomes difficult to see anything else. The blue appears where we begin to let ourselves show through. There are parts of ourselves we recognise immediately, and others we are still learning to let exist. The painting can be hung vertically or horizontally, revealing different relationships between the figures in each orientation.