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To order prints, please use contact form below.
My work for “Dirty Laundry” became about radical acceptance. Which has been a persistent theme for me going into 2020.
Radical acceptance means that you acknowledge reality, to fight it creates suffering. Once we accept reality we can consider if we’d like to change it, granted it’s in our power to do so. If we don’t we’ll be so busy needlessly fighting it that we won’t have the energy or focus to put towards changing what we can.
I believe the idea that we are not to air our “dirty laundry” creates shame surrounding the acknowledgment of our “undesirable” parts which can lead to denial and avoidance.
Before I got sober, I hid behind substances and used them to mask my pain. Even now my instinct is to hide my, perceived, vulnerabilities as a means of protection. However, it has been important for me to confront my concealed parts in order to heal, grow, let go and learn to accept and love myself.
Plans fell through. I had a week to have my collection finished and I had nothing. I felt overwhelmed by life and had, again, fallen prey to anxiety and depression which manifested as an anchor. I was sitting in my living room, looking at the mess I had let pile up around me, full of feelings of worthlessness and disappointment in myself when I noticed a piece of paper amongst the chaos.
The heading read, “Things To Do” and the first thing on the list was, “shoot images for show”.
So I did. My work, my “dirty laundry” was right there, all I had to do was stop fighting it.