The Story.

I’d like to tell you about Kelsi.

Well, not me, per se. I knew Kelsi. I worked with her on various projects in 2020, both personal and business oriented. As all who met her were, I was inspired by her. I remember feeling intimidated, not by her spirit as it was kind and confident and brave, but because I knew the work I was doing meant something. It was important, in a way that had me strapped to my computer obsessing over details. It was important, because Kelsi was important. And she still is.

So, back to it. I want to tell Kelsi’s story, but I am not in the best position to tell it. I knew Kelsi, but not in the way a best friend knows another. Not in the way a mother knows a daughter. Not in the way a peer knows a classmate. And so, I have debated telling her story. Mostly because I don’t know I am the person who should be doing so.

The reality is, this series was born while Kelsi lived. While she laughed, and sang, and cried. While she was here with us.

The reality is, I told her I would do it, and that hers would be the lead piece. And so I will. For her, and for her mum, her family, and for Zoe, and for you, and for me. For us. For Kelsi.

Kelsi will have her own post for the series. Her story is one that needs its own highlight. Kelsi was beyond her cancer, beyond her physical being, beyond this series. And so I have a few people who shared her heart, her tears, her vulnerabilities, and the fierce resiliency of her spirit to help tell that story as the lead piece in the series, coming up next.

The Survivor Series

So, what is the Survivor Series? Well, it hasn’t changed much since that very first thought back in September. Presenting the full spectrum of the human experience by sharing stories of surviving. Surviving sickness, surviving trauma, surviving our experiences, surviving ourselves.

These stories are not about shiny endings or “it’s all better now” rhetoric. Life shreds you sometimes. And while we may persist, we do not always recover. Not in the way you see on Instagram, in movies, or in cafe chats. We don’t always recover. And not every hard story has to have a happy ending.

Oh - and survival is relative. We will not be comparing suffering. We will not be comparing our stories with the others. Your pain, your story, your Survivor Series isn’t Kelsi’s, isn’t mine.

The Logistics

In the coming days, the initial submission form will be released. While I will hear and consider all stories, my limits exist as being a singular human being with a paint brush and a large capacity for connection.

Depending on submission interest, I may not be able to include all stories in this wave of the series. I am more of a big idea person than detail-oriented, so we are just going to see how it goes.

I will select stories, will capture your story in the way that you are most comfortable with sharing it, and will depict it in an art piece. I may request reference images for the piece, and I may represent it in an abstract or metaphorical way. That will come as I take the story in, and allow my brain to create it. Again - we will see how it goes.

What I can say, is your story will be safeguarded to the extent you want it to be. Anonymous, or not. Including your likeness, or not. It will be shared, but how you are connected to it is entirely your decision. Informed consent is foremost at all times.

The intent with the project is to share it - both here in the blog in written word and in the art piece. To share it through social media, through print media, through galleries (maybe - if you own a gallery you just go right ahead and hit that email button).

To share. To free the shame of hiding our vulnerabilities behind carefully crafted captions and transformation photos and stories of “coming out the other side”.

Well, that’s enough reading. More to come.