My Work
Unexplained Bruising
Unexplained Bruising was my entry into artist-hood. I created it while working with my art tutor, Sarah Fortais, over several weeks of reflection, making, and unmaking—as I tried to discover what my art, and my story, would be about. I didn’t know where it would emerge from, but when it did, it came with a force. It was exactly what I needed it to be. It unleashed something very powerful in me.
For much of my life, I had lived in a constant state of fear—seeing the world as dangerous, unpredictable. There were moments when I genuinely couldn’t remember the last time I felt joy. That realisation was heartbreaking. In the pursuit of survival, I had forgotten what it meant to be alive—to feel, to play, to experience joy without fear. I realised that joy wasn’t a luxury. It was essential. It was the thread I needed to follow to step out of my childhood trauma and into my real life. And so Unexplained Bruising was born.
Coming up with the name was one of the most beautiful creative processes I’ve ever been through. It speaks to something innocent, even tender—like when I’d come home from playing as a child and notice a bruise on my leg, with no idea where it came from. I had been so absorbed in joy, in movement, in connection, that I didn’t notice the wound until later. That’s what Unexplained Bruising is about—losing yourself in aliveness, and discovering the marks left behind, both visible and invisible.
This work is a return to that state—playful, raw, and vulnerable. But it also recognises that just like bruises, trauma can heal. And that healing isn’t a solitary journey. It’s a collective one. We need a trauma-informed society—one that can hold space for people to heal from childhood wounds. Art, for me, is where that healing begins.
In this series, I will explore different mediums to express the fear and fragmentation that can keep us from our inner child, and from knowing who we are beneath the layers of protection. I want to ask: Who might we be, if not for the fear? What would it feel like to show up in this world as ourselves—without the bruises that shape every thought, move, and decision?