I Gave You My Heart, and Lost Myself

The emotional core of I Gave You My Heart, and Lost Myself revolves around the pain and helplessness of gradual self-loss and dissipation amid wholehearted devotion to love. A little girl entirely painted in blue sits atop an open palm, with her black hair tied in two braids and hollow eyes staring straight at the viewer. She forms the emotional centre of the painting and serves as the physical embodiment of the lost self — the sacrificed ego.

The migration of the heart from the chest to the fingertips symbolises the surrender of one’s identity: once the heart is offered to another person, only an empty shell remains of oneself. The heart-shaped hollow on the girl’s chest visualises the vanishing of the self.

Every element in the painting is outlined with cool blue lines, resembling icy shackles as well as the lingering afterimage of a soul leaving the body. This detail intensifies the sensation of being confined and defined by external restraints. By contrast, a broken middle finger marked by faint traces of sutures symbolises rebirth after ruin.