Word-Less Wednesday
shimmering silhouettes of all the people we've been before
Issue #4/ Welcome to a new, regular feature of Good and Beautiful Things.
Word-less Wednesday: Less words, more art!
“-there have been many different ‘silhouettes’ over the past decades!”
Ever since I read these words in a newsletter from artist and teacher, Carla Sonheim, I’ve been thinking about silhouettes.
First I thought about how the silhouette of my body has changed from birth to my mid-forties. I considered making some art that might explore and honor the shapes that I have been in the past and the shape that I am now.
But then my imagination took a slight detour.
In my mind, I saw a silhouette of teenager-me that evolved into a silhouette of my husband and I in our first year of marriage.
Then the silhouette evolved as each of our kids joined the family.
And slowly the silhouette shrunk back in size and shape to reflect the kids who have left home.
Then I imagined the shape changing back to the two-headed figure of our wedding day. Or maybe to represent this time in my life, it’s a single silhouette of me on the lake in my kayak.
These thoughts by author and poet
(who happens to be the same age as me) have also stuck with me:“(In my new memoir) I describe people as nesting dolls. Inside each of us is all of the iterations that came before; inside present me is the person I was last year, and ten years ago, and even when I was a child. I don’t think we lose any of these earlier versions of ourselves, we just carry them with us. I think about that a lot now, and I try to honor and make space for all of the people I’ve been. I don’t think I could have done that even a decade ago.”
-Maggie Smith, on the Oldster Substack with
I love the grace that comes from Smith’s image of nesting dolls. Rather than losing parts of ourselves, we “make space for all of the people we’ve been”.
I would offer though, that just because those parts remain, it doesn’t mean any of the older versions get to take the lead in daily life. That’s something I’ve been learning about in the last few years.
Join the conversation in the comments below:
What silhouette first comes to mind when you think back on your life?
How do you feel about the image of nesting dolls?
Does it feel like an invitation or a burden?
Behind the Art
Each of these pieces is based off of a photograph from my life. When I first painted the figures with black liquid watercolor, the result was a blobby black shape that didn’t look like anything.
It was when I started applying lines and color that it teased the silhouettes into something that made sense and even told a story.
May compassion help you make space for all the versions of yourself this week,
-Aimee
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So beautiful! Thank you for sharing this!
Love this so much. I'm in a similar season, learning to embrace and love all the parts of me while trying to make sure the current, more healthy version of myself is in the driver's seat. Thanks for sharing. :)