Acrylic on cardboard – 8 x 8 inch – Unique work

Pocahontas: a woman, a name, a legend, a story. She is all of that and more.

I wanted to give free rein to my imagination. I wanted to write words, and pains, not summarize her story. Pocahontas is a woman with an extraordinary life; she is a pioneer. We all carry a Pocahontas within us.

Our childhood had its ups and downs. No matter where you are in the world, the ups and downs are different, of course, but being a woman can be difficult, more so elsewhere than here. Growing up with scarred parents, with a broken family, leaves its mark. These hardships and setbacks have shaped us and made us who we are.

Then comes teenage years, when some, lucky ones, rebel. The others continue to suffer, enduring in silence, without truly being aware of it. That would be so much more painful.

When we reach adulthood, our heads full of dreams, our destinies predetermined by others, supposedly well-intentioned, we do the best we can with our flaws. We start a family to survive, to give what we lacked. We move forward alone or with the wrong support. The lucky ones are happy.

Our children are often our lifelines. We try not to hurt them too much. During this period of our lives, we can choose a path toward healing. And then, after what seems like an eternity, we are finally free. Our lives are already well underway, but, between us, what is time?

So the present finally speaks to us. We leave the past where it is; it no longer defines us. We’ve finally tamed it, or almost. We had to make choices, leave the toxic people in our lives. We had to leave. And we did.

The future? It’s something to be built step by step. We’ve reached a certain age. For the lucky ones, they’re young and just starting out. That’s ideal. But to truly live, that’s what matters. The rest is meaningless. We all have a part of Pocahontas within us: a part of the fighter, the survivor, the one who suffers too; a part of dreams to fulfill, of true love to discover, experience, and feel.

Pocahontas, a woman, a name, a legend, a story. She is all of that and more.