Wonder Women 12 Project Proposal: Mandala of My Body

I am excited to be a part of my first Wonder Women! I have already gotten so much artistically and personally from interacting with the other wonder women these first few weeks.

Project Background
Last March, we collectively took each other’s health into our own hands. We stayed home and millions of us baked. Galettes, jammy star bread, onion rolls, vegetable garden focaccia; the kneading of the dough was my calm in the storm. My repertoire grew, but my health declined.

To regain it, I began the Auto Immune Protocol (AIP), a strict elimination diet aimed at reducing inflammation, pain and other symptoms. After the initial period of the elimination phase, foods are reintroduced one at a time to gauge their effect. The slow successful reintroduction of foods has been a tangible measure of progress; the light in this, at times, very bleak tunnel.

Alongside nutrition, physical exercise has been instrumental in rebuilding my body after years of assistive reproductive therapies and procedures, surgeries, pregnancies, childbirth and the gradual deterioration from an autoimmune disease. In spite of genetics, my body has given so much, it deserves to be healed.

This journey has given me a much deeper appreciation of food and activity, and its role in my mental, emotional AND physical well-being. How to thrive on less, eating (and moving) closer to the way our ancestors did.

Project Proposal
Mandalas are renowned as a means of self-expression and meditation. They also have a personal cultural significance, surrounding me my entire life. They are markers in my life: painted on my hands and feet before marriage, intricately stitched into clothes and created on auspicious occasions and holidays.

I envision my piece to be mixed media on paper. A large mandala, with each ring comprised of foods I have been able to reintroduce without ill effects. As the residency proceeds, the list should grow.

Each ring will use the food itself, the shape of the plant or seed, it’s naturally occurring dye properties or a mix of the three. A handful of the foods have naturally occurring dye properties (ie mustard seed, anise star, cardamom).

Additional rings woven through the food rings will represent the physical activity required to continue my healing.

The addition of each ring will mark progress, while the accretion of layers will be the map. The process itself will be my meditation and a hopefully a way of making peace with the journey. I envision this to be an ongoing project, fully complete when I have established my new normal. With this residency serving as an impetus for the first of a possible series.