Freedom of Choice
This series grew out of my own experience of moving — from one country to another, from one war to another, from a life I knew to one I had to rebuild. War and immigration made me see how often we find ourselves inside new “cardboards” we didn’t choose. Each one becomes a space we must learn to live in — temporary, fragile, uncertain and often scary.
However, these cardboards hold both limits and possibilities. They can feel like walls, but also like doors. I started to wonder, where does freedom of choice, so praised in Holy books, begin when so much is already decided for us?
What I came to realise is that it’s not in the boxes themselves, but in how we move from one to the other— how we see, react, and carry ourselves when life keeps shifting around us. We have complete freedom of choice about how we perceive the new circumstances, how we interact with them, and what we give to the world around us.
In this series, I study the emotions people experience when faced with new life circumstances.
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The Dreamer
He walks forward with eyes closed, reaching toward the sky. There’s frustration in the body, but also trust — a quiet belief that things will work out, somehow.
He moves through uncertainty with a strange calm, like someone who has nothing left to hold on to except hope itself. Maybe that’s what freedom is — to keep walking when you don’t know what waits ahead, and still think it might be for the best.
Acrylic on discarded Ikea cardboard
Diptych
200 x120 cm
2023
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The Optimist
She walks ahead, steady but light, as if testing the ground with each step. The past stays behind, blurred, but not forgotten. There’s movement and balance at once — a quiet talk between doubt and determination.
It’s about choosing to go on, even when things shift under your feet. Seeing the unknown not as a threat, but as a small adventure.
Oil on canvas
Diptych
200 x 160 cm
2025
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The Thinker
He stands still, thoughtful and unsure, facing new circumstances. His eyes are lowered as he reflects on his choices. The surroundings are the uncertainty and doubt often accompanying change.
Acrylic on discarded Ikea cardboard Diptych
200 x 120 cm
2023