MALAR is a one-of-a-kind sculptural work from my ongoing series Giving Shape to Pain.
Built from thousands of pearl beads and needles, the work forms a dense, tactile head-shaped surface, traversed by a butterfly across the face. The title refers to the malar (butterfly) rash associated with Lupus.
This piece emerges from lived experience with both Lyme disease and Lupus, translating internal neurological and inflammatory states into physical form. It reflects a condition where sensation, fatigue, and hypersensitivity are constant, yet often invisible from the outside.
The surface is intentionally asymmetrical, raised, and irregular. Rather than smoothing or aestheticizing the rash, the sculpture holds its unevenness as structure—mirroring the unpredictable, fluctuating nature of inflammation within the body.
Needles introduce a sense of sharpness, tension, and heightened sensitivity, while pearl beads create a fragile, luminous surface that carries both delicacy and pressure. These materials coexist in a single field, holding contradiction within the same skin-like topography.
The butterfly references both the clinical sign of Lupus and a broader condition of transformation and endurance—not as resolution, but as persistence within a body that remains in flux.
MALAR operates as both object and record: a sculptural presence shaped by embodied experience, where surface becomes language.
Medium: Needles, beads, foam, acrylic paint, and mixed materials
Size: 10.5” x 8” x 8.5”
Certificate of authenticity included
From the series: Giving Shape to Pain
MALAR is a one-of-a-kind sculptural work from my ongoing series Giving Shape to Pain.
Built from thousands of pearl beads and needles, the work forms a dense, tactile head-shaped surface, traversed by a butterfly across the face. The title refers to the malar (butterfly) rash associated with Lupus.
This piece emerges from lived experience with both Lyme disease and Lupus, translating internal neurological and inflammatory states into physical form. It reflects a condition where sensation, fatigue, and hypersensitivity are constant, yet often invisible from the outside.
The surface is intentionally asymmetrical, raised, and irregular. Rather than smoothing or aestheticizing the rash, the sculpture holds its unevenness as structure—mirroring the unpredictable, fluctuating nature of inflammation within the body.
Needles introduce a sense of sharpness, tension, and heightened sensitivity, while pearl beads create a fragile, luminous surface that carries both delicacy and pressure. These materials coexist in a single field, holding contradiction within the same skin-like topography.
The butterfly references both the clinical sign of Lupus and a broader condition of transformation and endurance—not as resolution, but as persistence within a body that remains in flux.
MALAR operates as both object and record: a sculptural presence shaped by embodied experience, where surface becomes language.
Medium: Needles, beads, foam, acrylic paint, and mixed materials
Size: 10.5” x 8” x 8.5”
Certificate of authenticity included
From the series: Giving Shape to Pain
