Wall of Emotions - WOE, 2024 -
Wall of Emotions – WOE is an ongoing participatory portrait project I began immediately after the 2024 election. It is an ever-growing emotional archive and a record of my community’s struggle to come to terms with a new and increasingly challenging reality. I asked each person to express, in one word or phrase, how they truly felt in that moment.
Each portrait is a black-and-white close-up of the participant in an emotionally open state. I convert the image to pure black and white to reflect our society’s polarization. Then I retrace their handwritten emotion in red ink and paint a texture on each piece. The final work is an archival print, hand-painted with red ink—making each piece a singular expression of personal and collective truth.
WOE consists of over 280 portraits and continues to grow with each pop-up event.
The Wall of Emotions is meant to always be exhibited in full at the time of each showing. It is meant to be experienced in its entirety.