Well Spring: Dreaming Community Care is a love letter to the family-community I grew up in. After my father died, myself and my siblings were raised by our mother in collaboration with our grandparents and neighbors. Caring for each other, as I was shown and taught, was as essential a part of daily life as eating or sleeping. The artificial boundaries of the nuclear family blurred where care felt abundant, and despite my grief, I was constantly surrounded by people who offered support in whatever ways they could – in home-cooked meals, a conversational walk in the woods, a community bonfire and pig roast. Today, I carry the support of my upbringing each and every day. Through the loneliest times within the forced isolation of capitalism and individualism, there is always the memory and the dream of care alongside the softness of its liberation. I wanted to create a piece where care became a wellspring of wildflowers – constantly replenished, thriving, and lush – to capture this feeling.

Image Description: Analog collage featuring a person’s torso lounging amongst a bed of flowers with their hands behind their head and their body at ease. The person’s torso is tinted green against an immediate background of textured blue and green waves, the body blending into the waves. Their eyes are covered by a thin band of florals that blends into the bed of flowers supporting them. The collaged flowers are soft pink, violet, and cream colors with green foliage. The collage background is textured wood in tones of white, tan, and dark green.