Dark Side Of Jokes On You
This piece was created from a place of reclaiming power, of confronting something that can leave marks far deeper than what people often acknowledge.
Bullying is so often dismissed, brushed off with phrases like “it’s just a joke,” as if the impact disappears the moment it’s said. But words stay. They build. They shape how a person sees themselves, how they move through the world, how safe they feel simply existing as who they are.
This work is my response to that.
The figure represents that voice, the one that hides behind humor, behind mockery, behind the excuse of not meaning harm. There’s something unsettling about it, something inhuman, because cruelty disguised as humor can feel exactly that way. It becomes less about connection and more about control.
Standing over what appears to be the aftermath, the image shifts the narrative.
“Now the joke’s on you.”
That line isn’t about literal harm, it’s about release. It’s about reaching a point where those voices no longer have power over you. Whether that comes from walking away, healing, or outgrowing the people who once tried to define you, there is a moment where their words stop holding weight.
The pile beneath the figure represents that past, those voices, those moments, those versions of yourself shaped by them. Not erased, but no longer in control. No longer standing over you.
This piece isn’t about revenge, it’s about detachment.
It’s about the psychological shift that happens when you reclaim your identity from the people who tried to reduce it. When you realise that what was said about you was never truth, just projection, insecurity, or ignorance.
As an artist, I’m drawn to the darker sides of human experience, not to glorify them, but to confront them. To give form to things that are often minimised or laughed off, even when they leave lasting impact.
If this piece resonates, I hope it serves as a reminder: you are allowed to outgrow the voices that hurt you. You are allowed to walk away. And you are allowed to exist without carrying what was never yours to begin with.
