Ooleesia

 









    



















“I just wanted to signify the road behind and the road ahead, I guess. […] Just feels like I’ve come so far. [...] See what is behind the trees, the leaves…and…looking at it now, I think green is symbolic of healing”

 





















“…you can see what it is…the form is still whole, but look at all the different (holes) …and it’s still there […] still being strong”


“You can see it’s there, so kind of camouflaged […] it’s dead but it’s still there”

 













“I was trying to illustrate how structured and how solid and then you see the mist kind of starting to go that way towards it, maybe hide it […] Cannot hide how strong I am, how strong I can be […] No matter how hard someone tried to cover it up or I try to cover it up or pretend that it’s not there, that it really is if you look, if you look closely.”

 


“Looking to the past, looking to the future, but none in the present. Why is that? Too many hurts in the past, too many fears in the future. No certainty in the present.”

 


“At the time, this was perfect for what I was going through. I still hold onto hope that not all men turn into dogs. Poor dogs though for such a bad reputation in this regard, dogs are loyal, loving, always happy to see you, never hold a grudge no matter what happens.”

 


“For years I’ve loved daisies - for their simple, unfussy beauty. There is an ugliness I have inside me that I don’t want others to see. Sometimes, the ugliness likes to come out just a little bit and I have to keep it in check, I can’t let all of it out at once.”

 


“Precious shadow of mine,

Steer clear

Of my ancestral pain and fear.”



 


“Beauty should be looked at from behind, what makes a person strong. [...] I try not to judge others harshly because I just, I don’t know what it’s like to be someone else, just like they don’t know what it’s like to be me. So why bother judging? The front is very different from what makes, what makes it up.”

 


“[...] you think you can beat me down but here I still am. Quite crumpled, but I’m still here.”

















 


“People used to tell me for who knows how long, that I eat like a bird. [...] Maybe finding that I can talk about stuff that has hurt…and…just not realizing that I could do that before. [...] I was just so frustrated at not…feeling like I wasn’t being heard [...]”
















 


“Something so fresh and fertile growing out of something so dry and hard [...] I’ve been told a while ago that I [...] should be meaner or negative or have like a hard edge to myself with what I’ve been through. (What I’ve been through is the) asphalt (and I am still) growing.”
















 


“Thinking about the road ahead. The road ahead…how you know, you get to that point but what’s beyond that point? The clouds with the silver linings…you can only see so far what’s beyond.”
















 


“Having been closed in the past and now becoming more open. [...] I pretended like none of that had happened from my childhood. And now not being (able) to ignore any of that or…to bring myself some more understanding about why or how I think or act goes back to my childhood and how I grew up. Like starting to make those connections. [...] Maybe I’m not as frustrated…being able to give myself some flexibility…it’s okay to not have to be a certain way. It’s okay if I’m not sometimes.”