For the Light Within

For the Light Within explores the interplay between openness and protection—how we modulate our internal “apertures” in response to the world around us. We instinctively open and close ourselves, adjusting our emotional porosity depending on whether we feel safe or threatened. This negotiation between vulnerability and guardedness reveals the balance we maintain to protect our inner selves while remaining open to connection.

Through mixed media—painting, drawing, ceramics, and fiber—each material conveys a facet of our inner world: fluid paint evokes openness, solid ceramics form protective barriers, and woven fibers act as filters.

Apertures—both literal and metaphorical—serve as thresholds. They allow light to enter and radiate outward, but can also narrow to protect our inner light. My work invites viewers to consider their apertures:

• When do we open to let the light in?

• When do we shield it?

• What patterns of opening and closing shape our relationships—when to soften or fortify?

My practice rests in the tension between boundaries and permeability. What beauty emerges when we find the courage to both guard and give our inner light?