weBelong-Logo – clear – smweBelong-Logo – clear – smweBelong-Logo – clear – smweBelong-Logo – clear – sm
  • HOME
  • NAME STORY
  • ART PROJECTS
    • EMBODIED REBIRTH
    • MY NAME STORY
    • RAW
  • ABOUT
  • BLOG
  • CONTACT
✕
  • Filter by
  • Categories
  • Tags
  • Authors
  • Show all
  • All
  • Art Shows
  • Community Care
  • Decolonizing Wellness
  • Home in My Body
  • My Name Story
  • Social Justice
  • All
  • aapiartists
  • aapiartshows
  • aapicommunity
  • aapiidentity
  • aapinames
  • aapistories
  • aapivoices
  • aapiwomen
  • aapnhpiidentity
  • artistgrant
  • artprojects
  • artshowsinseattle
  • asianamerican
  • asianamericanartists
  • asianamericancommunity
  • asianamericanidentity
  • asianamericanstories
  • asianamericanwomen
  • collectivepowerfund
  • community centered
  • communitycare
  • Design
  • haveyoueaten
  • invisibility
  • koreanadoptees
  • koreanamericans
  • namestory
  • newdaynorthwest
  • oppression
  • qtbipoc
  • racism
  • rebranding
  • representation matters
  • socialjustice
  • stereotypes
  • visibility
  • wellness
  • whitefragility
  • whiteprivilege
  • All
  • Judy
January 18, 2023
January 18, 2023
Categories
  • Art Shows
  • My Name Story

Annah’s Reaction to Name Story Portrait

Annah, one of the My Name Story project participants got a first glimpse of her portrait.
Do you like it?
Read more

FOLLOW ON INSTAGRAM

I picked out a name three years ago as I did My Na I picked out a name three years ago as I did My Name Story project. I tried to put it on but it just would not fit. Deep inside, I knew that the name took up a lot of space and that I needed growth to truly step into it. I needed a new chapter and it's here.This year has been brutality painful invigorating, exciting, and liberating. Those of you who knew me 9 years ago know that I experienced a life-altering transformation then. It was when I learned to love myself, connected with my inherent worth, and reset my nervous system to quiet my critical inner voice so that I finally felt at peace. I didn't think there could be more but I was so wrong.While that journey 9 years ago was to learn to love myself, this time, I had to learn to trust others and learn to let them love me.I didn’t know how to receive love because my mom left me when I was 13 years old. Her circumstances made it impossible to stay. I knew it was painful for her but she had no capacity to hold that pain so told me she was leaving me in a crowded movie theater. I remember feeling so much but had no where to put it and spent the rest of my life holding onto it alone while making sure no one else had to.While there are elements and people to this story I will not share here, I received the gift of feeling safety in my body for the very first time and it was life changing. That chapter of my story is now closed, but in the pain of the aftermath, I realized something profound.I learned that the true loves of my life were the women surrounding me, willing to show up in ways I didn't think they would. They were there all along.I may not have gotten the love I needed from my mom but I don't need her as much anymore because I am already surrounded by love and the arms that will now hold me are just waiting for me to receive them.Yesterday, I climbed Mt. McCausland and and looked at the incredible beauty forged from the thousands of years of violent shifting and clashing of tectonic plates. I wept as I wrote a letter to myself, to Judy from Hana. She told me,*Continued in comments.
One of the things I'm grappling with at this stage One of the things I'm grappling with at this stage of life is recognizing how little safety I've felt in my body whether that was physically or emotionally throughout my entire life.Sonya Renee Taylor reminds us that our society does this by design,“Racism, sexism, ableism, homo- and transphobia, ageism, fatphobia are algorithms created by humans’ struggle to make peace with the body. A radical self-love world is a world free from the systems of oppression that make it difficult and sometimes deadly to live in our bodies.”I am on a journey of finding safety in my body and thinking of ways we can all reimagine our world as a place that creates safety for all bodies and sees the inherent value in each and every one of us.My current project, Embodied Rebirth, explores just this. Would you like to explore this with me as a participant? Looking for BIPOC bodies living at intersections of marginalization. DM me.
I haven't been posting much and haven't been there I haven't been posting much and haven't been there for the arts community like I've been wanting so here's my update.This has been a season of choosing hard for me. This means huge life changes (being single again), taking big risks with my family, future financial stability, but mostly my heart. It has been a roller coaster of emotions from the thrill of new experiences to the lows of grief. It has been a season of exploring my inner teenager and of tending to the inner child in me who grew up feeling unloved and abandoned. Most of all, this has been a season of embodiment...a return to fully experiencing the world through my body and all the raw beauty life has to offer when you are feeling fully alive in it again.When I conceived of the Embodied Rebirth project several years ago, I knew it wasn't the right time. I don't think it's a coincidence that I picked it up again before all my life changes were fully put into motion. My photography journey has always mirrored my own personal journey, whether it was learning to go deep to practice difficult beauty or to explore my name and what it means to belong in America. It's now time to return to my body, learn to be fully present in all of its feelings and physical sensations, and to listen to it again.Portrait work is how I met myself and learned how to show up vulnerably. So I only thought it was fitting to show up that way again so that I can work towards honoring the bodies we all live in...the bodies that have held so much and continue to persevere and to feel. Our bodies are sacred. Our bodies are divine. And I hope you will go on this journey with me.
Photography home for the rest of the year. Gratefu Photography home for the rest of the year. Grateful to my friend @kelliepecorarophotography and partners at @saltwaterstudioseattle for their infinite patience as I kept delaying and asking for odd accommodations for my little project.Photographing female bodies for my show Embodied Rebirth in April @common_area.
Thanks to everyone to came out to the Closing Rece Thanks to everyone to came out to the Closing Reception & Community Circle for the Between Borders & Belonging show. It was a beautiful evening of connection and learning about how immigration has touched our lives.Special thanks to @grindstonewriting for hosting the event, @anna.jafarpour for organizing a special performance, and artists @planetdaph, @ffffffffffarah, @doodleswithkeiko for participating in the artist talk.Also, thank you to @intuitiveartbyangie for bringing her mom who was the inspiration for her work, @amber.uhh, @mowglis_art, and @heyjudooodles for sharing about your art.@thefishbowlseattle Communal Group Shows are truly special. They give our artist community an opportunity to participate without fear of rejection and is a wonderful way for them to show for their first time (and beyond!). We hope you participate in them when they come up again in December!This show was made possible with a grant from @kc4culture. Fiscally sponsored by @shunpikearts.
✨Our show Between Borders & Belonging on the immig ✨Our show Between Borders & Belonging on the immigrant journey is coming to a close. Join us for an evening of community and connection featuring artists: Farah Momin, Daphney Bazile, and Larissa Chen Gonzalez.The evening will be hosted by Julia Nagatsu Grandstrom and will feature a special surprise organized by Anna Jafarpour @anna.jafarpour.📅Friday, May 29th ⏰6:00-8:00pm 📍The FishbowlCome through and see all the amazing and thought provoking immigrant journeys! Featuring artists 🎨:@mowglis_art @eirikswood @potterybybon @wynpokes @kidatsy @NikkiBarberArt @cmykae_ @laylalakos @gabi.cosmos @smooth_jade @kept2 @heyjudooodles @jacobobonobo @Alexandracarmenmaria @millpil @squares.works @z.en @jameslawrenceardena @amber.uhh @butcher.jpeg @intuitiveartbyangie Sol DressageGuest Curated by Judy Lee @webelongseattle. This show was made possible by a grant from @kc4culture. Fiscally sponsored by @shunpikearts

weBelong-Logo-clear

Art + Social Justice
Judy Lee, Portrait Artist & Storyteller

webelongseattle@gmail.com

Sign Up for the Newsletter

Follow along on the art + social justice journey, learn about important announcements, and get private content only available to newsletter subscribers.

    X