In the Headlights

A self-portrait at A4 size, which is smaller than it feels. Kyra painted it during graduation, when she felt like a deer with a car coming, and painted it to look that way: the eyes are red, the palette is a degree off from natural, and the edges of the figure ripple as if the surface itself were anxious. The curls are done with real care, each one a separate decision, which is what stops the picture being only about fear. It is the cheapest work in the collection because Kyra priced it, and we did not argue. It will hang anywhere with a spare 30 centimetres, and it is the kind of painting that people who did not think they liked portraits end up asking about.