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Summer Luster's avatar

“There is a collective pain that is felt and experienced, and these collective wounds must be collectively addressed.”

—I had such a profound experience being in an elevator today exiting the OBGYN office with another girl in her early 20s. We both had little baggies and packets to prep for an IUD insertion. Both of our packets tell us the risks, the pain, the cost of getting an IUD. There was a palpable naivety and fear in the air—a feeling that we, as women, were willing to endure a brief excruciating pain so our bodies could belong to us. The collective pain of women is intense and I loved this writing.

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Sarah Aha's avatar

"As artists, we give meaning to matter, sure, but let’s also embrace that matter inherently has meaning in our lives: our homes, our offices, our streets and our jobs shape who we are and how we experience life and each other. From this matter that we experience together, cliches arise and become a part the archetypal language of our lives and culture." Yes, what some may call cliche, in this context I think of as symbols. Patterns emerge in the collective, and they take on a symbolic life within our subconscious, showing up in our dreams and in our art (which I see as an extension of our dreaming mind.) Symbols don't become less potent as you see them more frequently (cliche, if you will) but instead, become more meaningful... especially as their utilized in unique ways by different story-tellers. We each charge the symbol with our specific point-of-view and experience, but the symbol itself remains universal. Love your work- excited to read more about your process.

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