F-holes

The photograph is in conversation with Man Ray's Le Violon d'Ingres (1924) — the image in which Kiki of Montparnasse becomes a violin, her back marked with f-holes that, depending on how you read them, brand her, silence her, or turn her into something to be played. A century later, I wear those marks as temporary tattoos. They wash off.

I am working with the photograph as a talisman — an image made not to record an experience but to transform it. In this case, the painful memories of a broken relationship. Alongside the f-holes sits a second form: a spreadsheet — a record of agreements made, kept, and broken.

The piece pairs self-portraiture with ritual, the canonical image with a domestic ledger.

Photographer: Tyler Hubby | Stylist: Bettina Hubby

What you see is the artifact. The ritual happened in the room.

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Mental Health Blocks

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Shades of Gray