I wanted to take a break today and share my story about a series I'm working on. When it' done I've been promised a show, so that's exciting. The symbolism is of a skeleton of a building,, I even got some photos of a burnt wood building that I'm hopeful about, juxtapozed with plants, life, growth. The decayed, abandoned building with so many stories to tell, standing mute is behind. The flowers, plants, greenery, growth, mother earth, is in the front. It is in the present and projects hope of further growth into the future. It is alive, present, and vibrant. This is the story is my own journey of addition and recovery.

When I was in my disease there was no hope, there was only resignation. It was slowly killing me and sucking me dry and I thought this was my fate. Once a junkie always a junkie, right? That story is passed down from addict to addict. It's a way to settle into your pain, so the desperation doesnt hurt you even more. I had no knowledge of how to quit. It was beyond my ability to choose. But then there was a glimmer of hope, I was introduced to the possibility of recovery and help from others who had walked this journey before me. I had a template to follow that was populated with others in recovery and I began to heal. It wasn't always pretty, definitely not easy. But the hope grew. Over time I began ot feel like I was being reborn as a flower learning to bloom, stretching my roots and tendrils out to the world.

The metaphor of a garden began to symbolize where I was in the world in my relation to others, and I looked to my literal garden as a mirror reality. As an addict, on the street, homeless, I had no garden. Not even a plant. Then first came the house plants, then a yard of my own. Now I'm working on an urban food forest, for myself, my family, my chickens, my bees, and in this crisis my neighbors as well. What a change! 

I hope you enjoy my images, and I'll share more as they are made. As well as being an artist I am also an essential worker, so work is slow, but trust me, it is steady.