What do you see? How do you relate to the passive glaring glow of these words that sit heavy, yet radiate light? Are neon signs beaconing texts that offer welcome or glaring words that speak of warning?

 

These words written by my hand are paired with a set of self portraits captured in 2014 of a particularly difficult and suffocating time of introversion. How does the harm done to us circumvent within us and create an insulated barrier between us and everything else? These words - that evoke a cold sweat or a clenching of the body either involuntarily or because of its awareness of it. These words sit heavy, being repeated from myself to myself feels like a chanting - sets of words when said enough can churn enough energy to enact change. These neon words written by the self depicted in the portraits invite you to look into their home lived in simultaneous comfort/discomfort of living in fear and avoidance. The red and blue glow of the words emphasis the warning associated with America and it’s history of incarceration and emergency. As an immigrant to this country, I am often reminded of my perpetual foreigner status, and with this project, I remind others that words have an impact that can compound into significant physiological dysfunction.