In layering stories that are difficult to retell, or that still carry stigma within my community, I turned to conceptual storytelling and archetypes as a way of holding these experiences. No.13 is a personal and pivotal body of work, navigating mental illness within migratory journeys and questioning what is masked, hidden, and revealed through the ways we learn to express what cannot always be spoken.

Writing about No.13, academic Emma Sadera captured its essence: “These works, which centre on experiences of mental health and mental illness, explore themes of choice and power, discretion and courage. Who decides what is valued, and what is normal? Who holds the power to determine safety and belonging? Power is relative, but there is no mystery about where power accretes and who misses out on holding it, in whose grasp it turns to liquid and escapes, like mercury trickling out of cupped brown palms. In No.13, choice and power are manifested in the ways people experience mental health crises, or the slow exhausting burn of mental illness, and how they and the communities around them respond.”

Read Emma’s full essay ART THAT LIVES HERE, a reflection on No.13 and its significance.