My series of ceramic bust sculptures, entitled “Entanglement,” is inspired by Jess Riva Cooper’s ceramic sculptures, works with themes of overgrowth and invasive species. Such plantwork strives to represent the physical manifestation of anxiety, coupled with related coping habits. Entanglement seeks to visually acknowledge the nourishing and suffocating ways we cope with the crashing waves of heaviness and inner tension through the representation of rumination, co-rumination, and reliance on community. Rumination occurs when the individual lets their invasive thoughts take root and entangle the entirety of their mental landscape until they become all-consuming. Similarly, co-rumination occurs when discussion with a peer leads to over-processing, overanalyzing, and frequently reopening wounds.  While the intention behind sharing may be to ease anxiety, excessive discussion amplifies distress rather than resolves it, sparking more unease and thus more compulsive sharing; the vicious cycle feeds itself.