February - Desire?

February — Desire?

Desire is rarely encouraged to speak plainly.

It is softened, redirected, reframed into something more acceptable.
Romantic. Selfless. Sensible. Small.

This piece sits with a different question:

What do you want — really?

Not what you’ve been taught to want.
Not what looks reasonable.
Not what keeps the peace.

But the want that lingers when no one is watching.

Desire, when it belongs to women, is often treated with suspicion.

Too much desire is labelled greedy.
Too clear a desire is labelled demanding.
Unapologetic desire is labelled unfeminine.

So we learn to hesitate.
To second-guess.
To phrase wanting as uncertainty.

The question mark stays.

This work is not about romance alone.

It is about desire for:

space
freedom
money
recognition
pleasure
time
a life that feels like your own

Desire is the engine behind voice, ambition, and change — yet it is often the first thing women are taught to restrain.

Not because it is wrong.
But because it is powerful.

Desire does not cancel softness.

You can be feminine and still want boldly.
You can long for more without being ungrateful for what you already have.

Desire does not make you reckless.
It makes you honest.

January was about permission — the internal allowance to step forward.

February asks what happens next.

Once you accept that you are allowed…
What do you reach for?

And are you brave enough to admit it — even to yourself?

This piece does not demand an answer.

It simply asks you to notice where you hesitate when you want something.

Where you downplay.
Where you soften.
Where you add a question mark to protect yourself.

If this unsettles you, let it.

Desire often arrives before clarity.

If you’d like to live with this piece, it is available as a limited art print.