HOW

HOW has been rolled in and out across my spare-room studio floor for the past three years. It spans just over four metres—an intricate field of drawn text that brings together my two guiding modes of working: repetition and flow. When I first moved into my rented flat in December 2021, I was struggling. A friend gave me this roll of paper, and I began using it to express and transform the difficult emotions I was feeling—to rediscover love, joy, and a sense of freedom in the stability I had finally found after seven years of transient living.

I continued to expand the work over the next two years, in between other projects. Drawn in red and orange, it connects to the root and sacral chakras—symbols of grounding, creativity, security, and emotion. The writing encircles and extends from key words, drawing out their meanings: what it is to live, to be alive, what makes a good life, how we remember, and what is worth holding on to. How can we—how can I—hope in the face of ongoing suffering? How can we accept ourselves and each other, without judgment, within the challenges and struggles of life?

HOW doesn’t offer answers; it poses questions, possibilities, and wonders about how we might change. Above all, it speaks to our shared humanity—our commonality and interconnectedness—and what draws us together through love and care.