“Constellations” belongs to my ongoing cycle of embroidered self-portraits, where the act of stitching becomes an act of reflection, repetition, and quiet excavation, both a meditative gesture and a cartography of identity.
Each embroidered face is created directly with hand stitching on white linen using black wool thread. Removed from the autonomy of the single portrait, these faces are assembled upon a black textile ground, where they begin to relate to one another like celestial bodies suspended within an immeasurable cosmos. Detached from the singularity of portraiture, these fragments become celestial bodies suspended within an infinite space. Each face is no longer simply a self-portrait, but a planet, a world, an inner universe with its own emotional gravity.
The work draws inspiration from Carl Gustav Jung’s understanding of archetypes and from the symbolic language of astrology, approached not as prediction but as a poetic and psychological cosmology. Every expression embodies a distinct psychological force: tenderness, shadow, intuition, courage, longing, transformation. Together they form a constellation of identities that coexist within every individual. Each face embodies an inner force—a psychic constellation rather than a personal likeness. One may evoke intuition, another vulnerability, another desire, another shadow, another transformation. Together they reveal the multiplicity that inhabits every human identity.
Thread replaces graphite; embroidery replaces drawing. The black background evokes the immeasurable depth of the night sky, while the white linen preserves the quiet intimacy of skin, memory, and vulnerability. The image slowly emerges through thousands of repeated gestures, each stitch recording time, attention, and presence. Stitch after stitch, the face is not illustrated but discovered. What appears delicate is sustained by extraordinary resilience, much like the invisible structures that hold together memory itself.
Against the depth of the black background, the white linen becomes both skin and light. The embroidered portraits resemble stars whose distances cannot be measured, connected by invisible trajectories that exist beyond rational perception. Every face becomes a planet. Every expression becomes an orbit. Every fragment of the self enters dialogue with countless others, forming an ever-changing celestial map.
“Constellations” reflects on identity as a living universe rather than a singular image. The self is understood as a constellation of memories, emotions, archetypes, contradictions, and possibilities—continuously rearranging itself throughout the course of life. Rather than presenting a single, unified identity, “Constellations* embraces the plurality of the self. It suggests that we are composed of countless inner worlds orbiting one another—some illuminated, others hidden—connected through invisible gravitational fields of memory, experience, and unconscious knowledge.
Like the stars that have guided humanity across cultures and centuries, these embroidered faces invite contemplation rather than certainty. They propose that identity is never fixed but constantly reconfigured, forming new constellations throughout the course of a life. In this suspended cosmos, the self is understood not as a singular image, but as an ever-expanding universe.
Like the night sky, the work invites prolonged contemplation. It reminds us that what appears fragmented from nearby may reveal an unexpected order when viewed from a greater distance, and that every human being carries within themselves an infinite constellation still waiting to be discovered.