Touch Me Not

I wished to represent my relationship with conflict as a metaphor through two objects: a bed and a touch-me-not plant. Over years of self-reflection, I’ve come to realise that when confronted with uncomfortable realities, I most instinctively freeze as a response. First, there is a retraction from my daily environment (akin to the defence mechanisms of a touch-me-not), and then a persistent stagnation and freeze mode (most often taking place on a bed).

Having created this work in my first semester and cycle at Srishti, it is an apt representation of how I began conceiving vulnerability as a framework in my art practice. I was drawn to the medium of soft sculptures for its inherent capacity to communicate ideas of ‘softness’ and ‘comfort’. Overall, my intention in depicting sensitivity was to elicit an audience response of feeling seen through a compelling visual analogy.