The key is deeply connected to the idea of return. It carries the possibility of opening, entering and finding one’s way back to a place that may no longer be physically present. Small and familiar, it can hold an attachment to a particular space, while also carrying the larger feelings of belonging, memory and connection that remain beyond it.

The artist works with the key through hand-embroidered red cross-stitch, placing it across a surface formed from accumulated used tea bags. Rather than representing a particular door or location, the key remains open to the places that each person may carry within memory. Its familiarity allows the work to move between the physical act of returning and the emotional experience of remaining connected to what has been left behind.

The tea bags bring the scale of everyday life into the work. Each one has already been part of the repeated ritual of making tea, carrying its own stains, folds and traces of use. Gathered together, they hold the passage of ordinary time, while the key holds a more personal sense of place and attachment.