The body speaks before language.
“Body Work” is an ongoing series that explores how emotions live within the physical form. Each piece is not an illustration, but a translation—of tension, release, contraction, expansion.
Sadness curves inward.
Anger sharpens and pushes outward.
Joy opens, lifts, expands beyond the edges.
This work is deeply connected to my larger project, The Bodywork Book, where movement, drawing, and emotional awareness intersect.
Through this series, I am interested in how we can begin to see the body not as something to control—but as something to listen to.
These works invite viewers into recognition:
Where do you hold this feeling?
— Maria Kelebeev