Obscure by Angel Sadik

What is a heart without a body? Obscure explores the emotional weight of change and how identity can be tied to something as physical and personal as hair.

Since I was seven years old, I wore dreadlocks. They became more than a hairstyle, they became a way people recognised me, described me, even judged me. But in September 2024, I chose to cut them off. Not out of shame, but out of a desire to shift, grow, and begin a new chapter.

This work features my actual dreadlocks, shaped into a heart and suspended inside a gilded frame. The heart represents what they meant to me: a vital part of how I saw myself. The ornate frame draws attention and reverence to the object, inviting viewers to see it as more than discarded hair – it’s a symbol of self-definition, transition, and memory. Now living in Brisbane, I’m beginning to build new memories. Ones that aren’t tied to how I’m seen, but to who I’m becoming.