For Winter holiday I decided to take a cross country trip to finish an art project , I had been working on for about 5 years. It was time to turn my life around and finally complete this pet project. I wanted to shoot the last end of it in Joshua Tree California one of my favorite places on earth. I am a desert babe at heart and I love it there so so much. So I packed my dogs, and two of my girlfriends and we started the trip of a lifetime! This adventure was far from perfect but it was one of those trips where you figured out where you going and accept your past. My project, “My Goodbye Letter to You” was a poem I wrote on men and women from ages 20-70. I shot over and again, in many places and the ideas kept changing I kept finding deeper meaning in it. This project started off as a break-up poem about an on-off again abusive relationship I was in, and just recently cut the cord of permanently in April of 2017.
I have stayed in situations far past the expiration date because love is suppose to conquer all right? Well when love is one-sided it doesn’t, and if someone doesn’t love themselves it doesn’t. Feeling alone and in a vulnerable state I decided to reach out to people and ask them about their bad break-ups and how they overcame them. Then I asked them to share their stories, then my words painted on their bodies. It was beautiful so many people poured it all out, showing scars and all. This connected me to these people in a way I never thought I could and brought me to a place where I can finally heal. We did an art show in January after we finished the project and we had over 300 people come out and it was beautiful night. But Just like me I wander from the point, ha-ha. That’s why we went to California, but to bring this full circle we got to enjoy exploring the sites! We went to Salvation Mountain, Salton Sea, Joshua Tree National Park, Los Angeles, and made a crazy night trip to Las Vegas. We explore our realms of doing outdoor desert boudoir and I wanted to share some of our images 🙂 It inspired me so much that I want to open my own studio out there! (more details later this year on that 😉
Nothing happens as we plan it. But you have to make the best of it, don’t let the hard times get you down, learn from them.
So what I have to say to you guys. Take the trip. Do the project. Accept people for who they are. Don’t be afraid to love again. Let go of what no longer serves. And try to be present as much as you possible can. LIVE.
-xoxo
Your newly spiritually renewed Desert High Priestess Goddess
Mari Lo (or Ashley lol)
