Being a Woman

​FOLLOW ME ON A JOURNEY OF UNDERSTANDING THE WORLD OF WOMANHOOD THROUGH MANY DIFFERENT FACES AND STORIES ON BEING A WOMAN. 

Malaga, Spain

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I rummage through treasures I've found in outdoor scavenges, quartz rocks from the river banks, pine cones from the foothills of Tennessee mountains, fall leaves from various places in various seasons of life, flattened in old books. I arrange them around the room. I look at the rustic vase and old bottles on the floor, a strange place to display dried flowers and collected feathers, but it suits my eyes. Sitting back on a generic couch covered in my grandmother's brown, wool blanket, staring out a window curtained in native tapestry, I think about my space.

As a woman, a common splinter in our gender is the tendency to compare. I think of my girlfriend, Lisa's space. It is rich and vibrant in sheer turquoise drapes, vintage-patterned orange chairs and finely placed trinkets and rare finds fill the ambience with creativity. The home, like herself, is a piece of art.

The women in my life are an array of beauty, art, simplicity, ferocity, grace, drive, power and nurture. We are different in every single way yet our hearts beat together in pain, joy and passion.

Lately I have pondered many questions about my own sense of womanhood, what defines me as a woman, how is my journey different/similar to other women's journey, are my experiences and challenges universal or specific to my story?

I have thought of the diversity in womanhood, how our perspectives of beauty can be drastically different yet so true in their own form. Or the fascinating lifestyles of women, desiring and finding fulfillment in such an array of dreams. So many pursuits, so equally notable.

And then there are the struggles and pressures we face, that surely appear commonplace, but I wonder, do some of us feel the weight much heavier?

Then you add culture, religion and values practiced and celebrated in a various culmination of expressions throughout womanhood, the articulation of these strongholds are a part of our individuality, adding to the diversity and wonder found in women.

These curiosities compel me to seek more. The more I learn to love and appreciate the journey of womanhood, the more I want to break the streams of comparison and seek to uncover the beauty in one another's story.

In this quest, I will dig into women's lives to tell the story of womanhood through an array of unique canvases, one woman at a time, one unique and unifying story of beauty, pain and passion.

Stay tuned for the faces and stories of Being a Woman as together we bare the raw, extravagant and mysterious pieces of womanhood.