Within The Hourglass (2025)
Mix media Oil and thread on canvas, 30”x30”
Within the Hourglass explores the quiet liberation that comes with growing older. At the center lies an hourglass, not filled with sand, but with an unraveling human form. It is not time that passes, but vitality itself, measuring a life by how much of the self has been given to external expectations. Yet this is only the beginning.
From the hourglass, stitched concentric circles spiral outward, forming a labyrinth of language. The innermost rings echo societal constraints: career, money, beauty, family roles. These are stitched tightly in dark thread. As the path expands, the phrases soften into questions, then shift into realizations. The thread loosens. The colors lighten. The form breathes.
At the edge, the stitched circles dissolve into a painted pair of feet walking forward. This symbolizes the self, escaping the illusion of time and stepping into quiet freedom. The feet do not flee but continue calmly and knowingly into a life unbound by roles, pressures, or self-erasure.
The labyrinth reflects aging not as decline, but as an inward journey that is nonlinear, personal, and necessary. The stitched text is not decorative; these are the beliefs carried, sewn into the body over time. Thread was used instead of ink or paint because stitching is slow, deliberate, and domestic. It serves as an act of reclamation that mirrors the process of becoming.
Through thread, color, and metaphor, Within the Hourglass reframes the later chapters of life not as a loss, but as a return: a freedom from the burdens of performance, a freedom to be present, a freedom to be true.
