Sonya Keshwani

New York City, NY
https://styleesteem.com/
Social Media: @StyleEsteem
“She Carried Light”
Fabric, gold foil, paint, ribbon, flower planter, fairy lights
$600
Artist Statement: “She Carried Light” was created in honor of Molly and the quiet, radiant strength she carried through one of the most difficult chapters of her life. When Molly shared her story with me, one detail stayed with me — the collection of special candle votives she had gathered over time and brought with her to the hospital. Lined along her window during treatment, their warm glow became an anchor. A piece of herself she carried into the hardest room. That image never left me. As a headwear designer and cancer survivor, I have spent years thinking about what it means to piece yourself back together — to find beauty not despite what you have been through, but within it. For this piece, I was drawn to kintsugi, the ancient Japanese art of mending broken ceramics with gold, rooted in the belief that what has been broken becomes more beautiful for having been repaired. “She Carried Light” is a sculptural piece with hand-draped glimmering brocade fabric — its breaks and seams mended with hand-set gold leaf and paint — glowing from within through a soft light fixture. It carries light the same way she did — from the inside out. This piece is my love letter to her resilience — and to every person who has ever had to find their way back to themselves, one golden seam at a time.