It’s time to share another fine art piece with all of you. This is another piece that is a part of the self-portrait series that I’m calling The Journey. The series deals with emotions and things that have happened along our road to infertility like hope, strength, anger, sorrow, etc… The many moments that comprise the whole. You can take a peek at all my fine art work features here.

The title of this Fine Art piece is Unrecognizable… In one way this is a very literal thing for me. Having lost over 65 pounds now, there are days I look in the mirror and don’t quite recognize the girl staring back at me. It’s been a long time since I’ve been this small and sometimes seeing my slimmer face and figure – feels very foreign to me. Or simply figuring out what size clothes I need when shopping. I had gotten so used to looking in the plus sized section, it’s hard to accept that I now comfortable fit in the standard clothing sizes.

But in a more figurative sense – sometimes our emotions or reactions feel so out of character to who we are – it’s almost like someone else has taken over our body. I’ve experienced this on several occasions under extremely difficult circumstances – when my emotions or reaction are not my normal behavior. Sometimes it’s as simple as feeling numb… depression can do this to me. I don’t feel like getting up, doing anything, engaging with anyone. I just want to stay in bed and be dead to the world for a while. Other times I feel deep, deep sorrow or overwhelming rage. Or maybe it’s just a mask – you slip on in the morning to help you get through the day. Because the weight you’re bearing is too strong and you’re not ready or able to share it. You have to plaster on a smile and keep moving forward. Maybe you’ve even felt this way before. Like you’re trying to figure out who this you is.

For the creation of this image, I actually did two rounds for it. The first set up was in my living room with one of my BoxDrops by SJP backdrops (Master Sunrise). But I wasn’t satisfied with the end result – so I reshot the whole thing. This time setting it up in our basement using our poured concrete walls and floor as my background. I set my camera up on the tripod and went to work. I tried several different variations because I wasn’t entirely sure of what posture I would like best. And then the fun began in photoshop. I put together another behind the scenes video for you guys on my YouTube channel too! You can check it out below

And here’s the completed piece