The Inner Balance Series · 2026

Fire and Water

A self-portrait without a face.

Series statement

Fire and water are two opposing states held inside one system: intensity and regulation, survival and reflection. Across the series, the system moves from balance to strain, breach, collapse, external containment and the fragile work of beginning again.

Conceptual Fire and Water portrait of SV Ava

Collaborative visual

Elemental counterpart

A conceptual portrait created within the same fire-and-water visual language as the series.

Conceptual visual representation of SV Ava, not a photograph of a real person.

Availability

Series pricing

Small canvases · 25 × 25 cm£999 each

Selected smaller works from the series.

Large Fire & Water canvas · 60 × 60 cmOffers over £4,250

LED halo installation shown in the photographs: £50 extra per LED.

01 · Main work

Fire and Water — The Inner Balance

A self-portrait without a face.

Large canvas · 60 × 60 cm

A map of the emotional forces I live with. Fire is activation and urgency; water is empathy, reflection and healing. The dark structure between them is the daily work that prevents either side from taking over.

More about this work

What this piece represents

This artwork is the main image in the Fire and Water series. It is a self-portrait without a face: not a literal picture of me, but a map of the emotional forces I live with. It shows two opposing states held together in one system: fire and water, intensity and regulation, survival and reflection.

Fire

Fire represents activation: panic, urgency, impulsivity, anger, pain, survival, mixed energy and the danger of overwhelm. It is the part that reacts quickly, pushes forward and tries to protect me by taking control. Fire can give strength and movement, but if it grows too strong it can become destructive and difficult to contain.

Water

Water represents empathy, sensitivity, reflection, grief, calm, healing and the part of me that keeps trying. It is the cooling and regulating force. Water does not erase the fire or pretend it is not there. It slows it, surrounds it, and gives the system a chance to settle before everything tips too far.

What people see and what they do not see

For much of my life, people have seen confidence, humour, charm and capability. What they often could not see was the anxiety, depression, fear, self-harm, emotional sensitivity and constant effort underneath. This image brings those hidden parts into view without shame.

Balance, not cure

This piece is not about hiding one side or celebrating the other. It is about recognising both. The aim is balance: not perfection, not cure, not pretending everything is easy, just the ongoing work of living with both sides of myself and allowing neither to completely take over.

The centre and the structure

The dark centre and dividing form suggest structure: routines, therapy, medication, support, boundaries, self-awareness and the daily things that help hold the system together. The piece looks still, but it contains movement and pressure. Stability here is active, not effortless.

Quiet acceptance

This artwork is also a form of acceptance. It does not say everything is fixed. It says I am still here, still learning my own patterns, still trying to notice when fire rises and when water needs to return. It is managed survival, self-knowledge and the beginning of peace with both sides of myself.

The Mixed Affective State

Fire and Water in Collision

Small canvas · 25 × 25 cm

This piece shows the unstable meeting point between extremes: agitation and exhaustion, drive and distress, heat and cold. Fire and water do not cancel each other out. They happen together. The self is still present, but emotional balance has become vivid, unstable and difficult to hold.

Structural Failure / The Breach

Warning stage

Small canvas · 25 × 25 cm

This image represents the moment when the internal structure starts to crack under pressure. The stones that once contained fire and water begin to break apart, allowing the forces to cross into each other’s space. It is the warning stage: the point where awareness becomes essential and pressure can no longer be ignored.

Rotational Destabilisation

Loss of Containment

Small canvas · 25 × 25 cm

This piece represents crisis and collapse. The internal system is no longer simply under strain; it has lost containment. Fire and water mix, collide and overwhelm the structure that once held them apart. The self is still present, but stability has broken down.

A related work

05 · The Choice

The Fuck It Button: The Choice

Three small canvases · 25 × 25 cm each

The moment when the urge to give up is already active, but another option still exists. Three images, because one way out wasn’t enough. Each offers a route: a door, a path, a step away from danger.

It may be the hardest choice there is: to pause, to reach out, to let someone in, or to take the safer path when every part of me wants to press the fuck it button. The choice is rarely simple, and not always successful. But the choice is still there.

The Choice — a doorway within fire and water

The Choice — stepping stones toward light

The Choice — a lit path away from the vortex

Containment / Safe Holding

Hospital / respite / external safety

Small canvas · 25 × 25 cm

This piece represents being held in safety after collapse. Hospital is not freedom, but it can be protection. It is respite, containment, observation and a temporary release from external pressure. In this space, the system is no longer expected to hold itself together alone.

Reset / Beginning Again

Discharge / return / fragile restart

Small canvas · 25 × 25 cm

This piece represents the return after crisis. The system is calmer, quieter and more stable. Something has been restored, but this is not perfect peace. It carries relief and vulnerability: the beginning of repair, the anxiety of leaving safety and the uncertainty of starting again.

Not fixed. Not finished. Still here.