The mask of apparent fortitude. The tense expression and heavy eyes hide the tears learned to hold back. It is the cloak of socially accepted strength: resisting without showing that you are breaking inside. The elongated face, with a frontal gaze and heavy eyelids, seems to hold back tears that never quite fall. The lines on the forehead and the frame surrounding it reinforce the feeling of being trapped in a repeated gesture. “Contained Tears” speaks of those feelings we learn to hide, of vulnerability disguised as strength, of the tension between showing oneself and resisting. A mask that embodies the weight of the repressed and the silent strength of those who sustain it.