Anon 003
Participatory Portrait
She was
selfish
Anon 003 kept giving until there was almost nothing left for herself. When she finally walked away, she was called selfish, heartless and cold.
Anon 003 describes herself as someone who always wanted to help, to care, and to be there for anyone who needed her. But when she expressed her own emotions or reached out for help in the middle of the hell she was living in, she was made to feel small, as if she had no claim to her own pain. She learned that some people were comfortable with her suffering, so long as it stayed quiet.
When she found closed doors, she walked away. In her account, that was when the language turned. She became selfish, heartless, cold as ice, a bitch, a whore. Those labels did not come because she had done harm, but because she had stopped accepting it. They could no longer use or diminish her in the same way, so they made her the problem instead.
She carries scars no one can see, but she also carries a deep pride in the fact that her past did not break her. Creativity runs through her life — words, painting, music, outfits, even a meal made with love. She loves making people smile, believes in expressing herself fully, and speaks about counteracting hate with a revolution of love. She has learned to hold boundaries without losing her kindness.
THE DESTRUCTION
Taken Apart
About the Work
2026
Acrylic on canvas
The destroyed portrait was divided into a grid, with sections painted red to show the ways other people took pieces from her. The cut-out words were then placed into the remaining spaces, forming the labels left behind after she was used, diminished and blamed: “heartless,” “selfish,” “cold as ice,” “bitch” and “whore.” The work reflects both fragmentation and survival.