Vestiges of Self depicts a delicate interplay between light and shadow, self and reflection, restraint and surrender. The blackened hand cradling the face, as if an unseen force both holds and possesses. The soft, almost ethereal rendering of the figure contrasts with the heavy weight of the darkness, blurring the lines between identity and opposition. There’s an intimacy here, yet also an estrangement, as though the subject is both comforted and subdued by an aspect of themselves they cannot escape. Below is a poem about Vestiges of Self. I hope you enjoy it.

Vestiges of Self

A hand like dusk, a face like dawn,

a quiet war, a tether drawn

Fingers cradle, soft yet tight,

holding silence, holding night.

Shadow whispers, beckons deep,

a presence neither lost nor free.

Which part lingers, with part fades

who is captive, who remains?

Half remembered, half erased,

a touch that soothes, a touch that weights.

Self entwined in muted grace,

echoed traces, time misplaced.