Shadows

My Shadowself portraits explore identity as something fluid and contingent shaped by where we are, where we come from, and where we are not allowed to be. They speak to experiences of place and displacement, of belonging and estrangement, and of negotiating the space between acceptance and rejection. By working with shadow, partial visibility, and obscured presence, the portraits deliberately resist clarity and certainty. Figures are revealed and concealed at the same time, echoing how identities are often made visible only in fragments, or rendered invisible altogether.

These works sit in the tension between presence and absence. The shadow becomes both a trace and a refusal: evidence of a body that exists yet is not fully acknowledged. In this way, the series reflects on how individuals are seen—or choose to be seen—within social, cultural, and political frameworks. My Shadowself portraits are not about fixed selfhood, but about the ongoing process of becoming, and the resilience found in living with uncertain or conditional visibility.