I created these to encapsulate the feeling of yearning for something we’ve never had or something that we’ve lost, the feeling that we’re just hanging onto imagination, and the feeling that something is missing.

I took these pictures, my friend spinning, hugging, and holding hands with this imaginary figure, and embroidered in a simple shell of a figure with thread, the thread tapering at the ends into nothing.

I created this, of course, before the pandemic hit—but really, the message seems to apply even more now. It’s easy in times like this to recoil into ourselves, wishing we could be going out for tacos with our friends, traveling and seeing the world, and even going back to school. But in yearning for all of this, I think we lose a vital part of ourselves. Of course it’s okay to hope—but when we grasp too tight onto what we wish we could have, we forget what we have to be grateful for: our minds, family, friends, and homes.