Estranged 2025

Estranged is an intimate exploration of self-identity and the emotional weight of maternal estrangement. After choosing to cease contact with her mother, she found herself navigating life without the tether of that connection—a journey marked by loss, love, disconnection, and pain. This body of work visualises the complexities of absence, the echoes of severed ties, and the resilience that emerges in the space between.

Using red light as a recurring motif, she invokes the duality of love and lineage—the warmth of a heart once held close and the inescapable ties of blood. The glow symbolises both the visceral pain of separation and the enduring presence of what was left behind. Trees appear throughout the work as representations of the family tree, their roots intertwined yet distant, mirroring how connection persists even in estrangement.

Through portraiture, shadow play, and symbolic imagery, Estranged offers a visual language for the unspeakable. It is a meditation on identity beyond the maternal bond, an attempt to reconcile love and loss, and a testament to the power of redefining family on one’s own terms.

 “In this space of disconnection, I seek to reclaim myself.”