She Carries the River in Her Skin

2026 Forthcoming

Drawn directly on two walls of Gallery 8 (-1 Level), Ashmolean Museum

1700 x 300 cm

This work grew from months of reflection on how climate change touches the lives of women and children in South Asia, especially those already vulnerable. I was drawn to the stories of widows in Bangladesh whose husbands were killed by tigers—women blamed, ostracized, and left to navigate life alone. Thousands face similar hardships: poverty, superstition, loss of livelihood, and the additional pressures of environmental change.

The drawing unfolds like a river. Five boats travel across the walls, each carrying stories of care, courage, and survival. The first, largest boat tells the experiences of tiger widows, their grief and hope carried together. Women and men occupy separate spaces, yet are connected, showing both difference and interdependence. Pregnant women, children, and families appear alongside swirling seeds and waves, evoking the storms, floods, and disruptions that shape their lives.

A central blank space gives room to pause and reflect. Smaller boxes along the bottom, at children’s eye level, invite them into the story, while adults are encouraged to step back and move physically to experience the work’s full scale. Lines, spirals, and symbolic boats create a rhythm, echoing rivers, tides, and the flow of life.

I include words from Kazi Nazrul Islam: “I will not remain confined in a cage; now I will see the world / how people are turning in the whirlpool of this changing era,” reminding us to witness, learn, and act.

This work is not about providing answers. It is an invitation to pause, notice, and feel the quiet, often unseen struggles of others. It asks gentle questions: How do we care for those made vulnerable by circumstance? How do our choices ripple through lives, communities, and the world? In this space, I hope viewers can reflect, linger, and imagine a world held with care, attention, and compassion.