Here I am. This is me.

It’s been a long road to get here. Thirty years and counting.

Every single day I peel back the layers, trying to tell the truth of myself, in word and image.

Success to me is defined as knowing who it is that I am, really and truly, in continuing to hone my ability to express that self in my work, and in every day making the choices that create a life for myself that allows me to be who I am.

Knowing who it is that you are and living a life that illustrates that seems a simple goal, eh. But it takes a lifetime to achieve.

“Who it is that you are” is combination between that right-down-deep centre, and the choices you make that shape you as you live your years. We are defined by our choices. What we choose to let go of, just as much as what we choose to keep.

Right now on 13 January 2021, I’m choosing this photograph to represent my self.

It shows, in plain terms, all that I’ve been through, all the choices I’ve made to this point. The evidence is in the lines and scars and shape of my face, in the expression in my eyes, the way I'm holding my mouth, the set of my shoulders, the cut of my hair and dress. In the circle I wear at my neck, which I found in a carpark and which I think is a child’s bangle. It’s beautiful and it represents my belief in putting myself firmly at the centre of my own life.

There is no doubt we hold our history within us, writ so deep we are forever marked by it. The important thing to remember is that we hold our future within us too. I for one am so looking forward to that future.