A seated figure in a yellow shirt appears with a stack of books in place of a head, held fast by a looped rope. The image turns education into a paradox—knowledge as both uplift and burden. By removing the face, Nkem universalises the subject: anyone shaped by curricula, family expectation, or gatekeepers of “what counts” as learning. The tight coil suggests pressure—standards, exams, debt, status—while the bright spines hint at possibility. It’s a sharp, memorable meditation on who controls knowledge, and at what cost.
