08/19/2025
This therapeutic photography series, Trapped, is a witness of my shadow self, which is a part of our collective shadows. Born out of years of feeling bound—by panic, power struggles, and the weight of responsibilities that stripped me from my own desires—these images open the door to grief, rage, and feral survival. There’s a wildness here that makes me both proud and repulsed, and I sit in the tension of both.
In one frame I thrash, desperate to wrestle back sanity and power. In another, my eyes stare wide with grief, demanding to be seen, deserving to be held. Sometimes my body collapses, unraveling under the weight of it all, and yet even here bravery lives in the act of falling apart. These are the moments I often want to hide—the freeze, the fear, the endless spiral—but here I’m choosing to sit with them face-to-face.
Photography gives me just enough distance to hold these shadow parts without drowning in them. Through the lens, I can see what survival often buried: my prayers hidden in clenched hands, my grief buried in wide eyes, my wisdom inside meltdown. Trapped is not a resolution—it is a confrontation, an invitation to witness what I usually fight against, and perhaps to ask yourself: what shadows in you are still waiting to be seen?
