Beyond the binary: Exploring my relationship to vulnerability with Tatyana

This article engages with the complex relationship between vulnerability, relationality and hierarchy through the creation of Tatyana: Reflected in Your Gaze , a portrait of my friend, Tatyana, painted during our time in Oxford. By expanding the conventional understanding of vulnerability, drawing on Judith Butler and bell hooks, the author reframes it as a relational space and an empowering, co-creative process rather than a mere point of precariousness. Through the act of painting, I subvert traditional artist–subject hierarchies and instead foster a collaborative, mutual dialogue that allows for shared agency in the portrayal of the subject. In reflecting on the painting’s creation, I navigate the tension between personal identity, social context and academic constraints at Oxford, a space often resistant to vulnerability. The painting Tatyana becomes a dynamic site of negotiation, where multiple identities, histories and truths coexist, reminding us that meaning and power are never fixed but always shifting. This work, while exploring the limits of representation, invites ongoing dialogue and engagement with the vulnerabilities it seeks to represent, positioning the painting as a site for continuous transformation and collective understanding.