We Are One
This important and poignant project was completed during the season of Samhain 2020 to help with the transmutation of wounding surrounding witches and the burning times.
Only a few hundred years ago, women were killed - hanged, drowned, burned, crushed under giant stones or left to rot in prisons -for being 'witches'.
Earth honourees, healers, moon dancers, animal lovers, midwives, herb mixers, crystal lovers, teachers.
Women who had opinions.
Mothers, daughters, sisters, grandmothers.
Our ancestors.
The witch hunts happened from approximately 1450 to 1750 and resulted in an estimated 35,000 executions. They were instigated by the church.
In 1542, the English parliament passed the Witchcraft Act which defined witchcraft as a crime punishable by death.
In 1604, James VI made hanging mandatory for those convicted of witchcraft.
In August 1612, in the Pendle witch trial, three generations of one family as well as other 'witches' were marched through the streets of Lancashire and hanged.
In Scotland, over 3,800 people were tried for witchcraft and as many as 1,500 were burned between 1537 and 1772.
The Salem witch trials followed in Massachusetts between 1692 and 1693.
The last execution for witchcraft in England was in 1684, when Alice Millard was hanged in Exeter.
Witch hunts still happen today.
Not ones that end in physical execution (usually.)
But through persecution in other ways.
Online trolling, competitions, bringing each other down, oppression by the government, patriarchal restrictions, being mocked for being differentā¦
We, as women, lost our ancestors in the burning times.
We, as women, need to stand together and realise we are one.
As a collective, we will be able to lift the vibration of the Divine Feminine. To claim back Goddess.
We are these women.
They are us.
And we are one - with them and with each other.
The memories of the persecuted āwitchesā live within our bones.
Their screams haunt our souls.
The humiliation and unfairness live within our blood.
We are one.
My ethos is to ONLY paint from photos. Real photos. Of real bodies.
I REFUSE on every level to 'make up' a body or change a body so it 'fits in'.
But for this project, I did something different.
All of your bodies are so gloriousā¦
And I did something different and spectacularā¦
I merged your bodies.
I took all the photos Iād ever been sent and I blended themā¦
Combining you all.
Mixing your energies.
Merging your curves.
Joining your undulations together in celebration.
Bringing unity.
Bringing togetherness.
Bringing sisterhood.
Bringing empowerment as a collective.
You will see yourself in these paintings.
Because they are of you.
They are of us.
These images were painted in ceremony with the intention of hearing and healing and honouring all the women who have walked before us as well as honouring all the women who are here now - knowing we are one.
These paintings are deeply healing.
These paintings offer empowerment to all women.
These paintings give women an identity.
Whilst joining us together.
And then I handed it over to you all to name them.
Your favourite names were chosen, names of ancestors, names of daughters, names of women that had been persecuted for being a witch.
Your names.
By naming each painting, we honoured WOMEN.
As a collective.
For, we are all one.
Past, present, future.
Letās remember that and hold each other.
Clara
Evelyn
Beatrice
Isobel
Tallulah
Brianna
Mary Browne from the Salem witch trials
Blanche
Skyler
Stella
Diana
Delilah
Lily
Rose
Helena
Jessie
Alison Device from the Pendle Witch trials
Philippa
Elizabeth
Martha
Mary Reade from the Salem witch trials
Vera
Olivia
Trudy
WE ARE ONE
