joie de vivre is about the naïve child in the grown woman. about seeing things with a clear untainted unbiased eye. in seeing truths and asking unaskable questions.

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joie de vivre is about feeling small in a large and demanding world. about courage and resourcefulness to confront the battles of everyday.

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through the materials, i gathered together parts of a whole.

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the umbilical cord clamp - repeatedly duplicated until it was unequivocally clear that am definitely separated from mother.

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pink pristine preschool ballet slippers, which I never had.

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a large brown closed shoe box, looming like a fortress, full of secrets and possible threat. its twin white shoe box, open, exposed, and vulnerable, yet remains pristine.

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smiling teddy bears, struggling to extricate themselves from limiting attachments.

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and traditional Greek vases, which tell life’s stories and myths.

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joie de vivre is about the frailty of being human. in the necessity to break away from all that’s familiar and seemingly safe in order to grow and flourish in one’s own unique way.

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joie de vivre is about life itself – the understanding that only after one embraces all of one’s parts, one will then be free to choose which to keep and which to free.

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and then, with great joy, the naïve child will be freed to lead the grown woman to her true destiny.