Every photo tells a story; and this one caught me right in the feels. Check it out below!

In light of my freestyle session with Brandy Hirsch and Angel Vu I found myself able to recount some deep emotive responses to darkness, and share them with some local healers and artists and that was special; I found quickly that it was so relatable to the struggle of women to hold the emotional weight of the world on their shoulders in the darkness of little support.

I’ll share the pictures soon. But, for now, let me share the mood. We had all just been introduced, clothes were shed and I began a half a day long spirit portrait painting challenge with three models. The very artistic bywater home we were working in smelled like the herbed baked chicken thighs I had in the oven, and bone broth veggie soup that was simmering in the kitchen in the last room. And, I worked on one painting until I started to think of the other. Happily, soup in hand, they sat back or stood up, laughed, or tight cheeked every pose I directed, and the bonding began.

When painting Brandy I starting with a big black gaping hole in the center of her body, the center being her reproductive region. I dripped gold paint down her back, and down her legs, melting onto her toenails and wrapping around the soft pads of her toes. I airbrushed glow in the dark hot magenta tears on her face, and holes in her neck. Then the lights turned off, and Angel, the photographer, worked her magic- she shot her with a halfway visible smile, and darkness surrounding her. There it was, my story!

Several informed conversations, and shoots later I am influenced to share this and my take away from it. I am inspired to advise those of you who are having issues getting past a hump in your lives with a few conclusions. Just because you have taken a lifetime to build your character you don’t have to deny yourself the gift of change. Just because you've done something for a long time doesn’t make it your best option. Even though, darkness surrounds you in that unknown it doesn’t mean that you can't work with what you have, learn, and then bring new light to your life. Sometimes the loss of that dimming light is a gift. The inevitable gift of change is an opportunity! It gives us a chance to re-imagine, redefine, grow, and accomplish greater feats! So use those tears, and fill those holes with love, desire, and wander!

These women have experienced things that have caused them to question everything, just like me. And, I speak for us all when I say, we employ you to embrace those times. I am so thankful to have gotten to share with them, to laugh in the face of darkness, and to celebrate each other for it! To smile in the darkness is a great feat to anyone. To gain and share your emotional clarity in darkness, to be vulnerable in the absence of community support is to be a woman. And, that fact is unfortunate. Many refer to that accomplishment lightly, but I believe we need to look at this with more awe. After all, would we not find it magical to see a plant prospering in the darkness with no surrounding plants, no birds whistling, no nutrients? Because that's how it feels when you are left invalidated and hushed.

We are living in a time where women are still fighting for fair wages, fair abuse trials, reproductive health autonomy. How we deal with our cycles, births, and feeding our children is still being controlled. All in all, our voices have been silenced, and made a mockery of, yet we still attempt to truck on, raise our children, speak gently to our partners, and lift each other up. And, where does this courage come from? I think it comes from communion. I feel that our periods have allowed us a preview into the organized chaos of life; our ability to give birth has shown us the power of life; our hormones activate powerful chemical reactions that show us just how related everything is. And, we talk about it! We share!

And this is where my work comes from. Having a background in journalism I understand the importance of documentation, and that it should include a concept derived from many points of view. It reflects our culture, and what we want to be known for, whether we pay attention to it or not. We find our truth in each other's stories. It is the great collaboration, and we are all a part of it. So when I work with people I find it to be important to be in the present, to honor their story as a conduit to a larger concept. I believe our individual stories are important and will lead us to Universal truths, as this one did for me.

Ya’ll are the bomb. Thanks for reading!

Love ya’ll

KP