In Heavy Laden?, I explore the unseen emotional, spiritual, and mental weights that individuals carry, burdens often masked behind smiles or hidden beneath the surface of daily life.
The models in this work bear visible loads on their heads — a deliberate visual device rooted in African visual language, where head-carrying is a familiar act of labor. Here, the load becomes more than a physical object; it transforms into a metaphor for the heaviness of grief, the weight of loss, the strain of unmet needs, and the invisible toll of life's trials.
This imagery invites viewers to imagine if every sorrow, challenge, or private struggle were made visible on the human body. Would our interactions with each other be marked by greater compassion? Would empathy replace judgment?
Referencing Matthew 11:28-30, the work points to the invitation of Christ:
"Come to Me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest... For My yoke is easy and My burden is light."
The loads on the heads are not only a representation of struggle; they are also a visual prelude to release - a reminder that there is One who removes the weight entirely, offering rest that no human effort can provide.
Heavy Laden? is both a mirror and a call: to see, to empathize, and to respond to the burdens we all bear - and to encounter the only source of true relief.
Experience more works like this at #TOTIM3 - Aug 30 to Sept 7,