WITHOUT WORDS grounded in nature chronicles a journey back to the self through nature. Unable to speak about my feelings of isolation, fear, and sorrow, these images became my words.
As we embrace the power of the feminine and as we stop allowing ourselves to suffer in silence, speaking about mental health has lost some of its taboo. Without Words is about these moments — manifested in my psyche as I was detached from my day-to-day existence, exposing what lay under the surface.
The spark for this series happened in Savannah, Georgia. I found myself alone in the humid night air, not totally inside my body. I walked to the railing of our deck, looked out, and saw myself face down floating in the pool below. I took the photo of what I had imagined that very night. I didn’t know it then, but that feeling of detachment, of being misplaced and discarded, would follow me through the next few years.
It was nature — its complexity, its quest for survival, its inherent beauty — that helped me return to my body. When I dug into the earth, I reconnected to the feel of my own skin. When I welcomed the sea against my body, I recognized my own weight. When the wind hit my face, I remembered my joy. It was my passage back home.
The nomenclature for each image represents the date, time and place each image was taken, leaving the emotions up to you.
Bootsy Holler