“I cloak myself in other’s beauty. Here, is my reminder that the calm beauty I create, first, existed within me.”
Growing up in the desert I loved photographing the monsoons roll in. When the harsh, sunny days ensued I kept my polaroids of the storms on hand to remind me that the soft light will one day return.
I have lost what my vision of the storm looks like. My voice. I have became so accustomed to cloaking myself in others perception of beauty that I have not allowed myself, my beauty, to be seen.
My 12 year old self dreamt of being among the women who expressed themselves without abandonment through art, words, or dance. The more vulnerable they were the more powerful they were to me. I envied the way they bared their soul so I could find my own. My teenage self knew that so intrinsically yet I lost that original essence somewhere along the way.
This is my reminder that the soft light I have always been able to see the clearest and feel the safest is here. The beauty I create, first, existed within me.