Photography (Self-Portraiture)
I think a pain many of us share is being put on a pedestal and told to perform, to dare not fail, for the very real fear of being devalued and forgotten. That used to be my ultimate fear – a mix of abandonment trauma, social rejection, and a lingering feeling that there’s something very much wrong with me that everyone else notices. But as I’ve gone through the terrible fucking slingshot of being valued and devalued again and again, I’ve learned that 1) Yes I do in fact hate that shit, 2) I can choose a different path for myself, and 3) I can embody what I wish to see in the world. What would the world look like if we offered each other humanity instead? Like actual messy humanity. If we individually and collectively built up our tolerance for holding space for the messy shit. If we gave each other a soft place to land when things go wrong?
