Focal Distance

These objects are designed to subvert the common metaphorical association of stability with authenticity. By combining a fixed, engraved glass exterior with a shifting, light-based interior, they reposition change—not permanence—as the site of truth. Integrating cameo-engraved glass with camera obscura, I use these works to challenge essentialist ideas of personal identity. We are not static selves with fixed cores, but always in flux—shaped by experience, relationship, and perception. In English, metaphors of self often rely on spatial binaries: surface versus depth, exterior versus interior, change versus essence. Surfaces are portrayed as deceptive, mutable, and shallow; interiors as real, stable, and true. These sculptures invert that logic. They make space for transformation at the centre—offering a model of identity that is open, relational, and continuously becoming.