Respect Me

This wood panel is a celebration of boundaries. Throughout the pandemic, I found that it was critical for me to adopt a practice of setting boundaries, which is something I had never really done before in an intentional way. But during the pandemic, I became more aware of my own capacity and how I wanted to spend my time and that meant that I wanted to be more selective around my friendships and my relationships.

In the past, I feel like I've taken on too much of other people's stuff, because I was raised to always be there for others, to be a sort of “rescuer” and always take care of other people, often at the cost to myself. And in the pandemic, I realized that that practice no longer served me. I would overextend myself and feel depleted. I spent some months understanding and learning about how to set boundaries in relationships, as well as with family, at work and even with myself. This piece is about the respect that I am calling in for myself. I noticed that when I would name my boundaries, I would receive pushback with some people. But with others, I would get positive reinforcement, often these were people who also had a practice of having boundaries. This collage is about respect, respecting my space, respecting me and respecting my boundaries