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The Lou Tee
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Perfection is really the road to imperfection. What has been your relationship to imperfection; to the acceptance of it in everyday life?
I have found that it is the imperfections that add beauty and depth to life. They're what tell a story, that add richness and juice. I love and search for vintage and used clothing with a story – a mended hole, a patched knee, paint stains that whisper stories of an artist expressing their heart on canvas. It is the same for me in life. My life is not conventional, nor is it perfect. It is in the embrace of this non-conventional imperfection where I've found immense beauty and depth. This translates into my work, which I see as an aspect of myself and my artistic expression. It is the imperfections in my life that inform my work.
There is no "right" way to be yourself; rarely, if ever is there permanence. But there is process. How have you come to know yourself differently in the past year?
There have been many experiences this past year, and truly the past nearly siz years, that have almost given me no choice but to be myself. To embody and embrace my imperfections. To see them as beauty, rather than something to be ashamed of or hide. I am ever-changing and growing, ever metamorphic. In the past I was driven to please others, and feel shame around my imperfect self. This year I have found myself in a new way: I cut all of my hair as a metaphorical act of defiance; a reclaiming of self. The act and the process afterwards transformed me, strengthened me, and freed me to be more authentically me.
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" Change always propels growth...
It is challenging me again to trust my intuition and vision,
to step more bravely into my radical self
and to truly live, richly, deeply, passionately
with all the imperfections... "
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What in your life have you recently accepted as imperfect?
My single motherhood. This is an area of imperfection that is hard for me to accept. I am a full-time mama, papa, and breadwinner/maker... and I am coming to terms with the fact that I cannot do it all the time. Sometimes it is better to leave the sink full of dirty dishes and sit down with my kids and play.
Our perspective is always relative to our ongoing, lived experience. What has recently shifted your (literal of figurative) view?
My move to Los Angeles has shifted both my literal and figurative view. Change always propels growth... and change can be hard. This move has been imperfect and has challenged me. Because of this I have gained new insight into myself and my own strength. It is challenging me again to trust my intuition and vision, to step more bravely into my radical self and to truly live, richly, deeply, passionately with all the imperfections and all the juice.
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