Chimera

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Chimera: of the mask, what is behind, and what is between. Chimera is born from the tension of two halves, a mask and what is behind, each unable to merge with the other, yet forced into an uneasy union. In that forced union emerges something grotesque, monstrous, unsettling, a creature of compromise, contradiction, and self-construction.

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I see the mask not merely as a barrier, but as a site of negotiation. Behind every mask lies desires and fears, what is hidden from others and perhaps even from oneself. But more compelling to me is the space between mask: the friction, the sliver of gap, where identity is not fixed but in flux. In that interstice, we see the unspoken decisions: what to show, what to conceal, where the boundaries are drawn, and why. Chimera explores the inner tension, the push and pull of selves. I hope to explore a place where identity is not singular, but layered.

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What draws me to the myth of the chimera is the collision of the possible and the impossible: a creature born from discordant parts, allowed to exist by internal tensions, hovering at the edge of coherence. I see parallels between the myth of the chimera and the formation of identities.

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Thus, Chimera becomes a grotesque mirror: monstrous in its refusal of neat unity, and sympathetic in its desire, we confront ourselves. In the sliver of a gap between the mask and what is behind, the myth urges us to see that identity is not a harmonious whole but a conflict.