There is a collective grieving happening right now, especially amongst those who are marginalized, vulnerable,
susceptible to bodily harm and control.
Amongst womxn, mothers, caregivers,
and all those mourning the victims of our broken systems.

The death of Ruth Bader Ginsburg,
the gross injustice of the Breonna Taylor verdict,
our continuing isolation,
and the ongoing assault against human rights.

When I wore this dress a couple of weeks ago, as I began to move in it,
playing with the fabric,
it reminded me of a famous dance by Martha Graham,
Lamentation.

Martha was a pioneer in women’s rights within the dance world
and a voice when women were largely voiceless in the public sphere.
She defied odds,
she was strong and brave.
She was fierce.

Lamentation,
subtitled Dance of Sorrow
was a dance about grief
and deep mourning.
A woman’s grief
perhaps, but
not the sorrow of a specific person, time or place

the personification of grief itself.

It was an ownership
a bold expression
of a state that often caused shame
and was not acceptable for women to show in public.

This dance was cathartic for a generation of women.
It was cathartic to engage in a (very) loose interpretation of it.
I shot this in my home in the room I will (hopefully) give birth in.

#33weeks