Velatura (2025)

Velatura — titled after the painting technique meaning “veil” — is a meditation on vulnerability, surrender, and the act of disarming oneself. A woman stands barefoot before discarded armour: a breastplate, gauntlets, and a helmet resting in the dust. Her back, softly illuminated, turns away from the viewer; the drapery slipping from her shoulders suggests both exposure and relief.

⤷ Cox uses the visual language of the Baroque nude not to eroticize, but to humanise. The armour at her feet feels symbolic — the remnants of self-defence, of battles fought both inwardly and outwardly. Her posture carries quiet defiance: she is no longer a warrior, yet not defeated. The muted palette and feathered brushwork evoke a dreamlike calm after chaos, a visual exhale.

The piece reflects on the exhaustion of strength and the beauty of choosing gentleness once the fight is over.