Far From Home - Fine Art Print

An 8"x10" print of the original artwork, "Far From Home". 

Text in the artwork reads: "There is a blockage in the shape of grief which keeps me from recharging from the earth's abundant energy. My soles sing out when they touch the soil that this place is NOT HOME." 

Materials: Black tea, ink, watercolor paint, and cotton thread on cold-pressed cotton watercolor paper.

50% of the proceeds from this artwork are donated to the Yakima Immigrant Response Network. Their network of volunteers is at the forefront of our planning and response to ICE activity in my hometown. 

About This Artwork: 

I live 3000 miles away from where I grew up, and this sounds crazy, but I can feel it in my toes. It was an acupuncturist who clued me into the role of the soles of the feet: they connect us to the earth energetically and allow us to “re-charge our energetic battery” when we are depleted.

Inspired by this teaching, I worked with my therapist to do an EMDR session using the soles of my feet on the buzzers. I was surprised to find that what came up in that session was grief: my body was holding immense sadness about being far from home and about how the earth felt different under my bare feet. Even though my conscious mind dismissed this, my body felt it: in the earth’s energy, or in its electromagnetic field, in its chemical signature from the microbes under the soil. Maybe all of these.

The grief felt like it belonged to me, but it was more than just mine – it was also an echo of my ancestors who had left their homes behind – to cross the ocean and start a new life – and was connected to the inhumane treatment of migrants openly in our streets and hidden in detention centers.

In this piece, the Monarch butterfly symbolizes today’s immigrants in their struggle for dignity and justice. The cut and sewn portion of the watercolor symbolizes the rift that occurred in my family when my ancestors left the ground of their ancestors and my efforts to reconnect through my own ancestor practices. 

The quilt pictured is inspired by rag quilts made by my great-grandmother, Anna, who is my most recent ancestor to immigrate to the US in search of a better life for herself and her children. She was a seamstress and a single mom who made quilts into her old age; she believed deeply in kindness, thrift, abundance, and our responsibility to keep our humble resources from going to waste. I sew to keep her memory alive and to honor my mother, who learned to sew from her grandmother, Anna. 

When I made this artwork, I was in a season of deep trauma healing from C-PTSD and childhood emotional abuse. My hope is that this art resonates with you and brings you into deeper relationship with your own soul’s wisdom.