Black Dog, 2014-20

Black Dog is a visceral series of charcoal and black ink drawings exploring the emotional weight and haunting presence of depression. Centered around portraiture, each work emerges through forceful, urgent gestures—raw marks that echo the intensity of the internal struggle.

The title references the ancient metaphor for depression, a shadowy companion that follows without warning. In these drawings, the blackness is not just material but presence—dense, clinging, sometimes violent. The faces are blurred, strained, disappearing under the pressure of their own expression.

What remains are traces—marks of a grip that tightens and releases, never fully gone. Black Dog is a confrontation with the invisible; a way of giving form to what is often hidden, and honouring the resilience of those who live with its weight.