Dancer: Abby Lewis of @briarwoodimmanuel
A few weeks ago the Dulce Lumen team did a “weird art challenge.” We pushed creative boundaries and tried to reflect something distantly personal as well.
I began this piece with two themes very dear to Dulce Lumen:
(1) whisper > shout.
(2) Create art and beauty for the sake of art and beauty.
The dancer represents femininity, delicacy, and beauty continuing to put art and beauty into the world despite the chaos and pain happening around her.
It took me weeks longer than I had planned to edit this film. I hit a creative wall. (Sorry @karis.akin @elizabethjmarsh and Abby 😬)
What I realized as I worked through my own internal struggles was this: in addition to what I intended, there are a million different themes this piece evokes when you watch it.
Severe burnout.
Bringing your grief into your art.
Showing up as you are.
Not being afraid to take up space.
Metamorphosis; becoming who you were meant to be.
Sensory overload and prioritizing mental health.
This piece is far from technically perfect on my end but it came from a place of creative freedom and trying to shake things up; shoving hard at the creative cages we put ourselves in. It was a really fun exercise and it became a far more meaningful emotional process for me than I expected. And thanks to Abby for bringing all the elegance this vision required and then some. ✨
— Here’s a quick and dirty little preview of the shoot today with @a.robbins.art