Nail Halo is a raw and visceral mixed-media portrait exploring the tension between faith, pain, and personal reclamation. At its centre stands a silhouetted figure formed by cascading drips of black, green, teal, and white—an almost melting presence that feels both fragile and defiant. The partially dissolved face creates a haunting anonymity, inviting viewers to project their own memories and associations.
Tears made from a cheap, broken fake-pearl necklace fall from the figure’s eyes. These plastic fragments, humble in material yet tender in their placement, become symbolic of emotional weight carried through everyday objects—artificial pearls transformed into real expressions of hurt, ritual, and release.
Surrounding the figure is the work’s defining feature: a halo constructed from pages of the artist’s old youth Bible, washed with luminous neon yellow and pierced with nails. This circle reads as both protective and wounding, a scripture-crown reimagined through pressure, expectation, and the physicality of the nails themselves. The contrast of sacred text and construction materials blurs the boundary between reverence and rebellion.
A small cross crafted from folded aluminium can rests at the centre of the chest, anchoring the piece in the visual language of devotion while hinting at how belief is assembled, dismantled, and remade.
Nail Halo is not just a portrait—it is a psychological landscape, where childhood symbols collide with adult understanding, and where broken, everyday objects become carriers of personal mythology.
