/ 2026 / Portraiture / Self-Portrait

I don’t want to have to be strong.

Prize

Honorable Mention
Photographer

Marika Beyer, France
Date of Photograph

08/08/2025

“I don’t want to be strong, I don’t want to have to be strong” is a self-portrait series examining imposed resilience as a condition of contemporary life. The cracked facial surface represents cumulative pressure rather than singular rupture — shaped by roles, expectations, and sustained overload. Strength operates as obligation, producing progressive erosion of identity. The work documents breakdown as the outcome of prolonged endurance.