Collection: Khumo Ramaila

Confronting Shadows is a deeply personal body of work that revisits and expands on an earlier concept where I personified internal struggles as demons to raise awareness about mental health. While the original idea explored these challenges in a broader sense, this iteration turns inward, focusing more intimately on my own lived experiences and those of the people closest to me.
For me, the creative process is the only space where I am truly required to face myself. It is a moment of reflection, confrontation, and vulnerability. Through this work, I offer an honest portrayal of that experience inviting the viewer to witness my internal battles as I wrestle with the emotional, mental, and spiritual weight of these shadows.
Using cyanotype and linocut as primary mediums, I craft a visual narrative that captures the complexity of this inner journey. Religious iconography is woven throughout the work, emphasizing the spiritual dimension of self-confrontation. The embossed linocuts evoke an intangible space—one that exists not in the physical world, but in the psyche. Combined with ghostly cyanotypes and figurative imagery, these elements materialize the process of confronting personal demons and navigating the fragile terrain between fear, healing, and self-acceptance.