held you not to keep you understands
self portraiture as an inward condition. something formed through accumulation,
containment, and time, rather than resemblance. A rolled industrial canvas,
typically associated with shelter and construction, impermanence, and exposure,
is partially submerged in diluted henna, allowing the pigment to penetrate and
permanently alter its interior. The canvas is then stitched closed, rendering
it impossible to unfold or fully reveal. The gesture insists on the primacy of
what is concealed of processes that take place beyond view. What is usually
private becomes structurally present, even as it remains unseen.

Henna, traditionally applied to skin or hair as a
temporary, time bound mark, here becomes embedded within the fabric, shifting
from surface to substance, it operates a s a medium of transformation and
duration. What is usually transient is made enduring, forming a third body
where material and pigment are inseparable. The visible stitches function both
structurally and symbolically: they seal, preserve, and expose an intimate act
of repetition and care, transforming a private ritual into a public condition.

The work considers identity as a state of becoming shaped
by irreversible encounters, quiet rituals, and gestures of release. What is
held is not meant to be kept, but allowed to change. The sculpture exists in
the space between revelation and refusal, as a contained transformation,
offering a self portrait as a condition: inward yet exposed, concealed yet
inscribed, suspended between holding and letting go.