Gaps

This work depicts the violence of an imposed physical transformation through the postoperative experience of wisdom tooth extraction. The disproportionate face, the green eyes frozen in pain, the white crosses marking the missing teeth, the blue oozing from the mouth, the bright red evoking blood, and the reds and oranges in the background embody the swelling, inflammation, and the body’s vulnerability following the procedure. By contrasting the expected healing with the visible trauma left by the procedure, the work captures this brutal transformation of the body, whose traces—even after healing—remain etched within us.