He Wants An Open Relationship; I'll Keep Hugging Myself Until It's Over

He Wants An Open Relatiionship;
I’ll Keep Hugging Myself Until It’s Over
18x24"
Charcoal
 
The body curls inward, arms looping back to shield vital points, as if bracing for impact from something intimate rather than external. Hands clutch at shoulders, hips, and air, forming a closed circuit of self-protection. The figure is not fleeing; it is guarding itself from what it has already allowed close.
 
Rendered in stark black and white, the Charcoal replaces romance with risk. There is no second body present, yet the posture implies one—an unseen force capable of entering, reshaping, and overwhelming. Affection here carries weight. To love is to open the body, and opening the body means exposing it to harm.
 
Love is shown as powerful and destabilizing, something that can nourish or injure, depending on how tightly the self is held.