Author: Carly Swenson, Visual Artist
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Hope on a Technicality (Allowing hope despite my lack of constitutional equality)
Because if I can’t be a mom, my existence serves no purpose. Well, my existence actually means a lot, especially to me. I know my value because, unlike Christian Nationalists, I refuse to be afraid of myself. Keep hope. These desperate acts of oppression are rooted in fear. This is intended to throw you off balance and make you afraid, defeated, and overcome with despair. (And it’s okay if you do feel like that.)
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‘The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.’ (Inner calm in challenging times)
I took a deep breath and responded, “It’s okay. Everything is unfolding exactly as it will. Things are breaking and it’s hard, but things have to break to create something better. It’s uncomfortable, but the future is truly unknowable and full of possibility. More and more people are seeing that things aren’t working. And as […]
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Bath-time Rebellion & the Subtle Oppression of Self-Care Consumerism
Despite loving baths as a child, they lost interest and purpose into adulthood (like a lot of joyful childhood pleasures). As an adult baths lost their purpose–and as an adult, you should only do things that have purpose or financial viability, right? And with a bath–what do you do? What’s the point? I just sit there. In dirty water. Of ever-decreasing warmth. Then I shower, because I have to clean off my bath. I could just do the last step, showering, and BAM! Nailed it! I have a clean body.
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Spiritual Faith & Atheism (Psst…the secret ingredient is love)
I have faith that I’m capable of handling whatever unfolds in my life. This sense of faith is relatively new to me. Having lived with general anxiety and major depression for nearly two decades, as appealing as the concept sounded, I didn’t know how to just be mentally in the present moment. It was unimaginable. My lived experience and sense of reasoning couldn’t figure out how it was possible. So, I was stuck in a loop of self-awareness logically knowing it’s a complete waste of mental and emotional energy to anticipate every conceivable bad possibility or over-analyzing past interactions, but unable to fully untangle myself from overthinking. We don’t know the tools we don’t know.
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Why naked?
I consider my work to be an intricate part me. My ideals, thoughts, convictions, emotions, experiences, insecurities, hopes, rejections, disappointments, and passions all manifest themselves in my work defining an aspect of who I am as a human as well as an artist. This is beautiful, freeing, and completely terrifying. Through my work, I’m completely […]
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Layers: Finding Light
Finding Light, 12in x 12in • Mixed media painting, 2021 • Carly Swenson Finding Light (Detail image), 12in x 12in • Mixed media painting, 2021 • Carly Swenson
Carly Swenson • Intuitive Artist 