contributed photo
The work of loving oneself is no small task. As an artist, photographer and womxn living in this upside down society, I am committed to the work of exploring what it means to love myself fully while creating space for and making art with others on their own journey of self love. In a culture that profits off of us separating from ourselves at a fundamental level, to love oneself is possibly one of the most radical things a person can do.
Nearly 5 years ago, I found myself in an Oregon oak grove with two of my dearest friends. Each of us had come with the intention of doing something brave; we were each moving through a hard place in our lives. It turned out to be one of those rare moments when everything shifts in an instant. From then on, I was never the same.
The weeks leading up to the trip were filled with anxiety. I nearly changed my mind as I grappled with the task I had assigned to myself. Once each of us arrived, we settled in and nervously talked about our chosen obstacles. I told them that I had to go first, or I would get cold feet and not do what I came to do. I explained that I had been at war with my body for as long as I can remember, and on this trip I was choosing to say to myself: “You have permission to be here in the fullness of the body you are in. You have permission to love yourself.”
The next morning, I was photographed in my bare skin in the oak grove. At times I was wrapped in a cloth for security, and other times with my skin out in the rising sun, while my two loving friends held space for me to be seen. There were tears and nerves, laughter and release. To be witnessed in that way was so profound and so beautiful that it literally shifted something inside me and I have not been the same since.
I wrote in my journal: “My heart has been broken open underneath a canopy of oak leaves and the seeds of possibility for healing, renewal and even self love have been scattered deeply into that openness.” It was the beginning of an awakening to the power, divinity, and profound truth that lives within the body. This session was the seed that would become Bloodroot Sessions.
Fast forward to International Womxn’s Day 2019. After years of dreaming of how to offer my Oregon experience to other womxn and with prompting from a circle of dear friends, I opened my little backyard studio with the invitation for womxn to be photographed loving on their bodies. I filled the space with bowls of dirt and ash, fabric and floral crowns, jars of water from the nearby falls, and all my earnest prayers.
Seventeen womxn showed up in their truth. They shed tears, clothing, and tired old stories in exchange for their power and permission to be in their bodies. They touched their bellies with love. They laughed and screamed. They danced.
Something broke wide open inside of me. Their own acts of self love were the paradigm-shifting balm and mountain-moving medicine this world so desperately needs. At the end of the day, Bloodroot Sessions was born.
Bloodroot Sessions are an offering for womxn to be seen in the power of who they are. To take up space, embody radical healing, and release what’s no longer theirs to carry. Together, along with the Earth and her body, we co-create a space for generous permission and embodied wildness. The experience of being photographed is just as important – if not more – than the portraits themselves. The lasting, tangible beauty of the images are a declaration of our capacity for liberation and healing from societal systems that hurt us all, but have landed with particular force on womxn and their bodies, to varying degrees. The sessions are an invitation to travel the path of radical self love back to our bodies and hearts, in the ways we need it most.
To my core, I believe in the ability of the arts to help us heal on an individual and societal level. I see this work as deeply transformational and even world-healing as what is healed in the individual can’t help but ripple out and be healed in the collective. Self love is the medicine we all need.
Find out more about Rachel’s photography and Bloodroot Sessions
To reach Rachel directly: rachel@rachelliuphoto.com