Totem III

Created for the Inner Worlds exhibition at Seventh Circle, Totem III forms part of an ongoing body of work exploring emotion, repetition and psychological drift through painting.

The stacked compositions within the Totem series developed from portraiture but gradually shifted into something more internal and fragmented. Repeated faces, subtle alterations in gaze and layered surfaces create a sense of movement and instability across the work, reflecting the idea that emotional states are never fixed.

Created in Birmingham in 2026, the painting forms part of the wider Totem series by Emma Woolley.