Seen began as an unexpected lesson for both my students and myself. While teaching an iPhone photography class to women participating in a caregiver support program, I encouraged them to take self-portraits. Caregivers often spend so much time looking after others that they forget to care for themselves. My hope was that by seeing themselves through a camera lens, they might begin to recognize their own worth.

Ironically, I discovered how difficult that assignment was for me.

I mirrored my own portrait to represent both my positive and negative self-image. Wanting to soften that internal dialogue, I began pouring metallic alcohol inks over the surface. What I first intended as simple flowing color transformed into flowers. Those blooms became a repeated veil across the portrait, symbolizing growth, healing, and the grace that slowly develops as we learn to accept ourselves.

The work combines black-and-white infrared photography with layered mixed media to create a portrait that is less about appearance and more about becoming.