This project came from the inspiration of an oracle card pull, a 15 minute self portrait photoshoot, and the undeniable evolution of self. A reclamation of power, a releasing of old stories + systems, and a dismantling of everything I’ve ever known. I believe our souls are resilient and sometimes we are asked to be stronger than we ever believed we could be. But that’s what I love about the human spirit: we are sacred stories of resiliency.
Before I share stories of the brave and inspiring souls I have photographed, it feels only fair that I share mine.
I won’t bore you with every intricate detail of my life, because we all have little details + experiences that collectively make us who we are as individuals, but I’ll do my best to give you broad brush strokes met with intimate feeling in order to paint a picture of what has led me here thus far.
My story contains lots of trial and triumph encased in doubt and fear, abuse and neglect, self-inflicted pain and debilitating anxiety, heartache and death, betrayal of self and the one I love most, losing my faith and rediscovering it again, breaking generational cycles and cutting ties, all in an effort to remember my power, reclaim my voice, and live out the full embodiment of who I am.
Rather than write out every saga and explanation, I am going to share these stories in my favorite form and truly the only way I know how to process anything at all: poetry. I’ve been writing poems since I was in elementary school, and they’ve become my greatest form of expression, and my most sacred form of prayer.
I hope you find bits of your own journey in mine, in order to help you feel less alone, and to remind you that we are far stronger than we think. And that, I think, is what makes us beautifully and heartbreakingly human.
Welcome to Sacred Portraits: A Return to Wholeness.
