Reach Me
22.5 × 30 in
Charcoal on Paper
“my mind understands your love,
but my heart never learned its
language.”
- tylar knox
Reach Me explores the distance between knowing that you are loved and being able to truly feel it. Sometimes love can be spoken clearly and given freely, yet still struggle to reach the parts of us that need it most.
Existing in the tension between understanding and feeling, Reach Me asks: What happens when the mind understands love, but the heart never learned its language?
I created Reach Me from the experience of knowing love exists without ever fully experiencing it in a way that makes it feel real. Sometimes the words are there, but they never seem to reach beyond the mind and become something deeper. Reach Me is a testament to the longing for love to move beyond what is said and become something the heart can finally understand.
The eyes represent the longing to feel a love you know is there but have never been able to fully experience. As they fade into the darkness, they reflect the emptiness that comes from wanting that love to reach you, but never quite feeling like it does.
The unfinished lower half of the face represents a love that is understood but never fully experienced. The features are there, but remain incomplete, reflecting the parts of us that words alone aren't enough to reach.
The off-center face represents the disconnect between what we are told and what we truly feel and believe. Its misalignment visualizes cognitive dissonance, the uncomfortable space between knowing something to be true and being unable to experience it as truth.