Living on society's fringes means simultaneously experiencing states of hypervisibility and invisibility. One's complete identity may not be recognized, creating a sense of isolation as the observer is not represented by dominant culture despite blending in. I'm interested in the mermaid as a loaded symbol that is prevalent in African spiritual spaces, thinking about it as an icon representing what it means to exist in the liminal space of in-betweemness, between land and water, between beauty and repulsion, between human and animal. The pearls blend into the walls to create the effect of camouflage, playing with the loaded idea of hiding in plain sight to reference the mermaid as a symbol of unbecoming fueled by the desire to blend in/to belong. The burning female figure candle symbolizes the passage of time, the impact of aging and the precarious nature of being a woman.