This self-portrait emerged from an experience of professional burnout — a state in which the familiar sense of self begins to lose its coherence.

In the spring of 2026, following a difficult period working as a kindergarten teacher, I felt as though I had been shattered into pieces. This experience became the starting point for the work.

From the very beginning, the image was conceived as a composition of sharp, fragmented shapes. Red, black, and white planes come together to form a recognisable face, yet refuse to create a harmonious whole. They collide and intersect, struggling to hold together a form that has lost its former stability.

The face remains recognisable. The self has not disappeared, but its sense of wholeness has been disrupted.

I am wearing my pyjamas — an ordinary detail of domestic life that found its way into the composition. The lettering on the fabric, originally nothing more than a casual printed phrase, takes on an unexpected ambiguity. What was once an ordinary request for sleep becomes something more intimate: a plea for rest, tenderness, and freedom from expectations. Even the words themselves carry a small imperfection, quietly echoing the fractured nature of the image.

The tapestry technique plays an essential role in the work. The image slowly emerges through the interlacing of threads, fragment by fragment. This gradual act of construction stands in contrast to the experience of falling apart. What feels shattered begins to acquire a new material form.

Rather than depicting my outward appearance, this work attempts to make an inner state visible — vulnerability, exhaustion, and the unsettling experience of feeling fragmented.

The work offers no definitive resolution. It captures a moment when an earlier sense of wholeness has been lost, and a new one has yet to emerge.