In the stillness of lockdown, I turned to books — not just to read, but to cut, tear, and stitch something new into the old. The Lonely series grew out of this instinct. Pages once filled with stories and knowledge became the foundation for collages that whispered a different kind of truth: one of touch hunger, of isolation, of longing.

Inspired by René Magritte’s Les Amants, each piece explores the tension between intimacy and distance. Like his veiled lovers, we too were shrouded — not in cloth, but in fear, in solitude.

By embedding images into the worn paper of forgotten books, I wanted to create a dialogue between past and present. The books held me; I held them back. What emerged is a quiet rebellion: beauty made from confinement, tenderness in a time of touchlessness.