Sometimes it can be hard to see that there is always a light ahead when my eyes are nothing more than dust. And the cage distorts that even more, though if I squint just right with my lashes locked tightly to each other as if they are holding on for dear life, I can see it. And the light is beautiful.
Krippner’s paper brought me back to that cage and how hard it was to soar when you can’t see the light and the dust blunders the winds away from your wings. And soon you forget about the winds because you don’t remember your wings. These wings that are no longer soft and delicate, instead itching against your skin waiting to be shed.
Then the light hits just right and a glimmering of who you really are sparkles anew. Each sparkle of light brings another glimpse. Each one so weak that you think you must be turning to dust yourself. It is too fantastical to believe in those glimpses, yet as each sparkle glows against the next it becomes a frame. Each sparkle builds upon the last, and you notice that what you thought was a cage is just the frame upon the pain.
And you begin to explore that frame as more and more sparkles alight. You study it and decide to allow the pain to wax or wane as it is want to do.
And as each pain waxes and wanes, not only is the frame illuminated but each wing and feather, as more dust is shed.
Yet it took so long to shed. I waxed when I should have waned.
And with the last glimmer hidden in the dust of my eye, I saw that I had become.
Not the wings and not the dust.
The hardened wax shackled upon me was a cage and I had become the very thing that I had feared.
Yet only the dust could hear as I shouted so silently against the waxing and waning. As I shouted louder and louder the dust became a deep long shudder shedding the pain. Oh, the pain noticed, yet it could not stop shedding.
No longer a bare glimpse, the cage could not hold and there was no pain left and I soared.
Bio … It’s my jam to connect and align ideas, goals, and dreams to be transformed into reality. The intersection of the mundane and the spiritual is the theme of my work. I’ve been integrating healing modalities, such as Reiki and the chakras, psychology, spirituality, and consciousness for over 20 years into my work. I’m currently a Integrative Studies major at Northern Kentucky University applying psychology, business, and leadership to explore more ways to manifest beauty, joy, and love into the world.
I believe that the disconnection between the disparate parts of self is what causes dis-ease within society. The items I use directly represent this in my mixed media pieces; each work is another facet of the kaleidoscope of the self merging into wholeness, rejecting the normative standards set by society. Texture is often the focal point of my work and I am obsessed with how different materials react with each other; the tactility and grit of lace juxtaposed against a smooth wash of color for instance. Or a bit of broken jewelry in betwixt beads, paper, leaves & twigs, or some found object. I use acrylics, watercolor, oil sticks, and ink to create layers of personality. You’ll often find bits of sparkling glitter or jewels emerging from the depth representing the hidden truths of your soul.
Portfolio : https://sites.google.com/view/shelly-kay-graves/home
Website: https://theshellyerse.com
Instagram: @theshellyverse
Email: [email protected]