I explore the quiet power of companionship between two misunderstood beings each carrying a reputation that precedes them, each learning to bloom in their own way.
At first glance, they seem an odd pairing to be placed together, the Snake plant stretches upward with unapologetic presence. It’s not conventionally beautiful, not easily embraced, but it holds a strange grace in its defiance. Beside it stands the Poppy vivid red, delicate, and often overlooked in favour of the more celebrated rose. The Poppy has spent years in comparison, questioning its worth, its beauty, its place.
In this piece, I wanted to explore what happens when these two meet not in judgment, but in recognition.
Together, they form a quiet alliance. No longer alone in their difference, they reflect each other’s resilience. The Poppy, once caught in the trap of self-doubt, begins to feel the freedom of simply being. With Snake beside it, it no longer needs to perform or conform it can just exist, vivid and whole.
This piece was born from the emotional aftermath of isolation a time when external noise faded and I was left with myself. In that silence, I began to see who I truly was, without the filters of expectation or comparison. And as I started to love that version of myself, people and energies began to appear that mirrored that healing. Snake and Poppy is a visual echo of that experience: the moment when self-acceptance invites connection, and when the unconventional becomes sacred.
Esther Akello 
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