The Scarlet Gaze

In “The Scarlet Gaze”, I explore the interplay between power, ritual, and transformation. The central female figure, draped in black with a piercing red gaze, becomes both performer and symbol — a guardian of inner strength and hidden vulnerability. The pumpkins and autumnal motifs evoke the cycles of harvest and decay, linking the human figure to seasonal rhythms of change. Fashion elements, such as the garments and textures, merge with organic forms to blur the boundaries between the artificial and the natural, the glamorous and the raw. The scarlet tones suggest passion, danger, and intensity, while the illuminated pumpkins hint at both festivity and ritual sacrifice. The collage becomes a meditation on duality: presence and absence, beauty and mortality, surface and depth. Ultimately, this work is about how we carry the seasons within ourselves, transforming with them while still seeking constancy through the gaze — a gaze that is both alluring and unsettling, a mask and a mirror.