"Fitting In" solo exhibition, Nov 2022

Fitting In opened on November 10, 2022 — about a year and a half after I moved to New York.

Around 250–260 people came to the opening. INKED NYC had never hosted an exhibition before. It was known as a tattoo studio, and this was the first time the space functioned as a gallery. The opportunity wasn’t part of a long-term plan. I simply asked the manager if we could try. I wanted to have an exhibition, and this was the place and time that were available. So I worked with what I had.

The subject of the exhibition developed after the space was secured. The works featured my human–animal hybrids placed inside New York City, drawn disproportionately large against its architecture. The figures feel slightly misplaced — too big for the subway, too heavy for small apartments, too visible for a city that often asks people to compress themselves.

On the surface, the animals represent the universal feeling of trying to fit into an overwhelming environment. New York magnifies everything — ambition, insecurity, comparison, scale. The exaggerated size of the figures highlights that tension. They are both powerful and uncomfortable. They take up space, but they are not always sure they are allowed to.

On a more personal level, the work reflected my own experience. I am physically large, and throughout my life I have been aware of my size (1.80cm). Sometimes that awareness translates into feeling slightly out of proportion in certain spaces. The animals became a way to speak about that quietly, without turning it into a complaint. They hold strength and awkwardness at the same time.

There was also another layer — ambition. The oversized figures were not only struggling; they were expanding. Their scale was not just accidental. It carried a wish. I had moved to New York with the hope of growing — professionally, artistically, personally. Making the figures big was a way of allowing that desire to exist on paper. If they could grow beyond the frame, maybe I could too.

“Fitting In” was not a declaration of arrival. It was a step. It was an experiment in building community, in asking for space, and in taking responsibility for creating opportunities instead of waiting for them. The exhibition became less about proving something and more about participating — in the city, in conversations, and in my own process of finding where I belong.

Most of the people who came were invited personally. In the months leading up to the show, I introduced myself to people slowly — through tattooing, through friends of friends, through small conversations that continued. That night I hugged and thanked almost everyone who walked in. The turnout wasn’t the result of status or press. It was built one interaction at a time.

Looking back, the exhibition was not only about presenting work —that was my actuall process of fitting in...