Soft Like Surrender

“Being and Becoming” – Mashir Kresenshun

“Being and Becoming” exists in the tension between presence and transformation. It is an exploration of identity not as something fixed, but as something constantly negotiated shaped by memory, culture, desire, and contradiction.

My work operates within a symbolic landscape where figures are both grounded and dislocated. They inhabit spaces that feel familiar yet abstracted- rooms, bodies, and environments that reflect psychological and emotional states rather than literal realities. Through this, I investigate the duality of existence: the visible and the internal, the constructed self and the authentic self.

The recurring use of simplified forms, bold contrasts, and restrained palettes is intentional. It strips the image to its essence, allowing the viewer to engage not just with what is seen, but with what is implied. Themes of love, peace, power, and mortality are embedded within these compositions, often coexisting in quiet tension.

As an artist navigating a multicultural identity, my work speaks from a liminal position- between worlds, between histories, between ways of being. This in-between space becomes a site of reflection and reconstruction. It is here that deconstruction is not destruction, but a necessary process for growth.

“Being” is the acknowledgment of the present self.

“Becoming” is the acceptance of change, evolution, and the unknown.

This exhibition invites the viewer to confront both.