Elephant 1 | Elephant 2 (2025)

15.5 x 10.5 | Charcoal on Paper

These two works are drawn from elephants I saw in real life.

The elephant I saw in “Elephant 1” was on the roof of our building, which once had a huge fountain; after it cracked, everyone ignored it because fixing it was hard. Years later, when we moved, I went back up. The roof was bare, but the fountain’s footprint was still visible in the corner. The edited-out zone felt like a real city “elephant in the room.” In my drawing, I imagined ambiguous forms on a plain rooftop so the ordinary and the dislocated share one frame. I’m asking how cities decide what to maintain and what gets treated as clutter; the composition keeps both without smoothing over either.

“Elephant 2” is shaped by the presence of the homeless—residing in public spaces yet constantly overlooked—and is represented through the metaphor of a “fish out of water.” The image of a fish-human struggling to breathe outside its natural environment reflects the reality of those who share the same space but remain excluded.