A dress worn to a party in 1984, re-imagined & transformed, becoming muse & metaphor in 2019. With text from Walt Whitman's poem, This Compost & embroidered ferns traced from actual ferns in my garden, it took over a year, for the dress and the woman to emerge - smiling. Always smiling. "I am terrified at the earth," but I drink my demitasse and smile. Really? Is that all? What an incongruous sham! But am I allowed to show fear or anger? Do I even know what these emotions feel like? And if I can't show them when no one is looking, will I ever be able to be real? I've buried them for so long, always hiding behind that smile. Don't get me wrong. I've only recently understood how beautiful it is. But just as the demitasse is a curious distraction, so is a smile a fabulous cover. It
was only after these exploratory photo shoots in Maine that I started to go deeper. If I am going to re-imagine my relationship to everything and everyone, including myself, I'll need to accept that it won't always be pretty.
3 Comments
Sarah Young
10/25/2020 10:45:18 am
I think we can smile at a moment of joy in an otherwise terrifying world.
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Lyn
10/27/2020 03:43:26 pm
Sarah - - You are so right. Smiles are necessary right now -- if they are real and come from a place of genuine warmth. The more real the better. And smiling now is such a great way to break the tension. I just think it's important to also allow ourselves the truly feel the sadness, anger or fear may be feeling, and not need to hide those very real emotions. Thank you for reading my blog!!
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Kate
10/27/2020 06:46:32 pm
I'm with you, all the way-- especially this year! I love your dress and demitasse and the pics of the beach are lovely, as are you, whether you're smiling or not! I do think that the lace and flowery stuff somehow feels more at home with the smiling face-- somehow frivolous when accompanying the serious looks. Isn't that how life is? When shit gets real, the frills tend to go away. Love your blog!
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Evelyn R. Swett
reframing the narrative in community and with myself, finding transformation and joy in the mess of it all Let's ReFrame!
is a somewhat regular 'viewsletter' that hopefully inspires joy & transformation. It will include links to recent blog posts & updates about my work. Oh, and I promise I won't share your information (that would be so uncool) and I don't actually do promotions, but that text is required. Archives
December 2020
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