Blossoming Battleground,  2024, oil on canvas, 2x (51 x61cm). 

It’s hard to love a body that has been abused. Raped. Beaten. Discarded. A body that holds trauma. A body abandoned by its owner. A body that has held life and death. It’s hard to love others when you don’t love yourself. When you have hurt yourself. And when others have hurt you so much that you feel empty. So many things are missing; so many joys and pleasures. Something is wrong. Diagnosed autoimmune disease. Diagnosed Endo. Cut open; again. Not feeling like a woman. Not feeling human. Let down. Discarded again. And yet, there is still life in this body. This body is not ready to give up. I will water my body, water my sex, my flowers, until I bloom and not become new, but strong. I will choose to love my battleground. My body. I will choose to blossom.