Votive

Art has long served as an offering—a votive—to the unseen forces that shape our existence. In ancient traditions, votive objects were left in sacred spaces, symbols of devotion, transformation, and remembrance. In this photo series, Votive becomes a visual exploration of the self as both the giver and the given, the offering and the witness, the flame and the darkness.

Votive asks: What does it mean to be both the bearer of fire and the one who is consumed by it? What is the body but a vessel, a conduit for stories, desires, and ancestral echoes? In these images, the act of self-portraiture becomes an act of consecration—a quiet rebellion against erasure, a reverence for the raw, unfiltered presence of being.