Dacryphilia, 2025
Photographic print
35,5 cm x 45,5 cm
Artist’s Statement
This artwork is a photographic print documenting a tattoo based on The Monster, an original poem written by the artist. The work explores themes of emotional trauma, identity, transformation, and resilience, examining how destructive relationships can permanently alter an individual’s sense of self. Through the combination of poetry, tattooing, and photography, the artwork investigates how experiences of pain become embedded within both memory and the body.
The choice of tattooing as a medium is central to the work. Tattooing is both a destructive and inscriptive act; the skin must be wounded in order to create a permanent mark. This process mirrors the emotional experiences described in the poem, where pain leaves lasting impressions that contribute to the formation of identity. The tattoo, therefore, becomes a metaphor for survival, transformation, and the permanence of personal history.
At the centre of the tattoo is a moth resembling a psychological inkblot image, inspired by the “Father” card and its associations with male authority figures and power. Positioned between the moth’s wings is the phrase I Am Ruination, a statement that references the poem’s concluding metaphor of the “monster.” While acknowledging destruction, the phrase also functions as an act of reclamation, suggesting a self, reshaped rather than defeated by trauma.
By presenting the tattoo through photography, the work transforms a private bodily inscription into a public artwork. Ultimately, it reflects on the relationship between pain and growth, presenting the “monster” not as a figure of monstrosity, but as a symbol of endurance and the complex identities forged through suffering of you.
