Wide Awake

Acrylic and modeling paste on canvas, stretched on pine wood, varnished with gloss finish
36 × 24 × 1.5 in (91.4 × 61 × 3.8 cm), 2025

In Wide Awake, Hansa Sethi confronts the exhaustion of perpetual consciousness — the emotional violence of being unable to rest, even in sleep. The work visualizes the body’s breaking point: veins stretch, blood drains to a diluted pink, and the eye remains open against its will.

Through layered acrylic and thick modeling paste, Sethi constructs a surface that feels tense, raw, and almost breathing. The gloss varnish intensifies the physicality of the paint, amplifying each drip and fissure like preserved wounds.

This piece examines vigilance as both armor and affliction — the cost of constant survival in an unforgiving environment. Wide Awake stands as one of Sethi’s most psychologically charged works, balancing fragility and defiance with unsettling precision.