Consumed By The Box I Live In

Ghost in a Shell Series (2026)

In this series I draw from the Sepedi proverb “khudu ga le lahle legapi la yona”, which loosely translates to “a tortoise never loses its shell”. While in the spiritual realm, a tortoise is often associated with patience, longevity, protection and grounding, I look at the tortoise as a prisoner in its own home. I argue that you can never experience anything worthwhile if you never leave home.  As humans we value personal space, to a point where we want to keep building higher walls to avoid interactions with other people or to avoid being seen altogether.  This series comment on the idea of the desire to expand on things that allow us more room and comfort to be ourselves rather than things that challenge us to grow, our shells keep growing but our core selves remain the same due to not experiencing life to its fullest.  We get obsessed with idea of increase security from outside world that we unwittingly increase the likelihood of developing insecurities Because we spend too much time in our comfort zones, we end up feeling out of place when we are challenged. We develop negative thoughts and emotions. We become fearful of the unknown, we become afraid of making of mistakes and of evolution. The lack of experience of the outside world can lead to self-doubt. And because we do not value experience a teacher, our wisdom does not grow organically, we become products of our enclosed environment, of the boxes we live in, thus prepackaged ignorance. One becomes a puppet of their own negative thoughts if dwell on them for too long and it is up to them find scissors to cut the string. One can get consumed by the idea of building walls that they end up cementing bricks onto the doors and windows of their homes. And because we do not live life to the full, we become ghosts in our shells.