Inner Voice, 2022

14" x 17" Watercolor on Paper; unframed.

In Inner Voice, a colossal, stone-skinned head opens its mouth not in a scream, but as a threshold, revealing a smaller, contemplative figure seated within, as though the true self resides far behind the mask presented to the world. The outer face appears weathered, monumental, and burdened by time, suggesting the hardened persona shaped by survival, expectation, and silence, while the inner figure evokes vulnerability, stillness, and attention. What emerges from the open mouth is not speech but presence, implying that the most vital truths are not spoken outward but encountered inwardly. The painting frames the act of listening as a mythic descent, where self-knowledge is earned not through assertion or performance, but through the courage to sit quietly within oneself and attend to what has always been there.