Turtle Friends

Most of my childhood was spent inside a room. It taught me how to appreciate domestic spaces and create a world that went beyond the walls around me. However, the isolation did not curb my extroversion - the joy I got from connecting with people.

When I went to The English and Foreign Languages University for my B.A. and M.A., I was able to unleash the extrovert within me. EFLU is known for its close-knit and diverse community. It became the perfect space for me to come into my own. The unique combination of my circumstantial introversion as a child and newfound extroversion at university gave me a distinct perspective.

This artwork was inspired by my interactions with a good friend at university. She was an introvert who held her room and her personal space very close to her heart. She would describe her rooms in such vivid detail when we would be out walking on the campus. It was amusing to me how we were talking about small, congested hostel rooms while walking on an open and expansive campus. I became very sensitive to the contrast. I would often see her around campus and imagine her enveloped in a floating room.

Over time, I realised that many of my friends were introverts who celebrated and depended on their personal spaces. I even fell in love with introverts and realised what a privilege it was to be invited into their personal space. It deepened my understanding of the relationship between space, solitude, and connection.

Artist Bio