Acrylic tufted rugs

44” x 58”

2025

In this series, I reflect on the imbalance created by societal pressure to attain one's dreams, working within the constraints of a grayscale system—transitioning from white to black, with the murky in-between grey. Where does one’s dream truly lie? Society encourages and applauds dreaming, while simultaneously squashing dreams by imposing practicality. A person’s dream can either be a life goal or an unattainable idea—unreal until it becomes real. There’s a fine line between hope and hopelessness, and it’s one that can only be understood through the lens of the individual. It seems as though the world is willing to celebrate dreams only once they’ve been realized; otherwise, they’re seen as impossible.

Statements like, “IT WAS JUST A DREAM” or “DREAM A LITTLE DREAM,’ play with this tension between dismissal and hope. It represents both concealment and protection. Traditionally, we sweep things under the rug to hide them, to bury what we do not want to see or confront. But in doing so, we also shield them from the harshness of reality. What we hide beneath the rug are the dreams we fear cannot be realized, the goals we’ve been told are mythic or unattainable.

Rugs, by nature, are objects meant to be walked on, to be covered by the weight of daily life. But when they are placed on the wall, they disrupt this function—they no longer serve to hide, but to reveal. They transform from mundane objects into something to be seen and reflected upon. They become a statement about the things we have swept away—those dreams and desires that we are often too afraid to fully express, or too unsure to pursue.

They challenge us to look at these suppressed parts of ourselves and ask: What if these dreams, even if they are unrealized, still hold meaning? What if they deserve to be seen, acknowledged, and celebrated, not for their completion, but for their potential to shape our lives, our identities, and our future?