Anxiety

Anxiety captures the exhausting performance of appearing whole while quietly unraveling beneath the surface. Two hands puppeteer the smile that hangs unnaturally in the foreground. It is held in place not by joy, but by pressure and the unspoken demand to look fine, to reassure, and convince.

Behind it, a shadowy figure recedes into itself, stripped of detail and identity. This loss of definition speaks to how hiding one’s true feelings slowly erodes a sense of self, until what remains is only a silhouette.

The piece reflects the tension between visibility and vulnerability. The forced smile becomes a barrier, protecting the inner self while simultaneously trapping it. Anxiety gives form to the quiet panic of being seen too much and not enough at the same time.