So he swallowed everything,
the fear,
the doubt,
the nights that felt too heavy to carry.

“Be a man,” they said,
as if being a man meant
becoming a locked room
with no windows.

He watched the world measure him
in money,
in success,
in how little he broke under pressure.
And every time he stumbled,
the whispers came quick
not enough.

Because out here,
a man who fails
is not just struggling
he is erased.

Medium

Charcoal on paper

Progress work

Progress shots are below

Final work