Grief Alchemy - ABOUT THE PHOTOS
By Meghan Ralph
It started with a candle. It was their choice to blow it out and let the darkness come. They could use the space however they wanted, it was theirs. There was paint, if they wanted to use it. They could feel whatever came up; cry, dance, laugh, they could just be. I did ask them to scream if they felt things built to that moment. We asked if we could drip paint on them, many found it soothing. And when they were ready, they could light a new candle and bring the light back.
I wanted to give people space to feel. In June of 2021, the world was just starting to open up again after the pandemic had sent us all into lockdown for a year and 3 months. During that time, we changed. We were different, we’d lost, gained, witnessed, baked, grieved. We were not the same, but the world was going to want us to get back to things from the “before times”.
Humans are these incredible vessels; they hold so much inside. All too often, the world tells them that the only place for all those feelings, for all those universes we keep within, is just that; in.
So, before the world got going again, before people had to paint a happy face on things, before people were asked to put themselves second to whatever noise and urgency the outside world wanted to force on them, I wanted to allow them space and time.
I am beyond grateful for these 15 people who wanted to take this artistic adventure with me. From my time as an intuitive healer, I am no stranger to helping people move energy. But doing it through art was a whole other thing. It was messy and powerful! And I can’t wait to do it again!
Susan
“This session was done a few months after my mother died, it allowed me space to release the grief I had been pushing down by staying busy. This is the day I stopped and breathed deeply into it.”
Julie
“It is hard to put into words what this did for me. I realized how much I had feared, how angry, how overcome, how relieved I was inside. And to process what is going on in your head and inside your body in a physical release in a safe environment was a gift! Thank you, Meghan!”
Kelly
“Shame and guilt are two of the most destructive emotions in this world.
Guilt erodes beauty.
Shame eats joy.
Shame demands that cover and diminish yourself, to put on a mask and hide the real you. Guilt tells you that the real you will never be worthy of anything good or beautiful.
Then someone comes along and shows you acceptance the way you are. When someone invites you to expose the most bruised and ugly parts of yourself and then tells you that they are beautiful. Believe me when I tell you nothing can prepare you for the excruciating joy and gratitude.
Nothing could have prepared me for the complete release of this photo shoot. I walked in saying “I’m sure I can find something that I’m sad about”. Then the paint came out and I started to cover myself and something snapped. Fears I had held in for so long came rushing out and I started to cry, scream and wail. Meghan showed me I was safe and cared for. She led me through this immersion in my grief and helped me to the other side. I started to breathe. I started to smile. I enjoyed the feeling of the paint on my skin, the smell of it and the warmth of the space. Then to our collective delight, the sprinklers came on outside. So after healing the adult that I am, we let the child in me play in the sprinklers.”
Micayla
“There's something so cathartic about being able to actually, openly grieve and sob and scream about all that which we bury inside. To be in a space where it was encouraged to sit and feel everything we normally are asked to have politely tucked away for the comfort of others felt so healing in a way I wouldn't have thought it to be.”
Audiences are invited to the Grief Alchemy Open House on February 1st at 6:30PM.
ABOUT THE ARTIST:
Meghan Ralph – Meghan is a photographer, painter, published author and writer, an intuitive healer, actor, sometimes bartender, and all-around theatrical ninja. One year ago, while bartending at Vintage, she saw an artist hanging their work in the Monica Horn Gallery and said “That is what I want to do!” And wouldn’t you know it… here she is.
“For some reason beyond my understanding, I have built the kind of life where if I say “does anyone want to scream and cry and let me drip paint on them and take pictures of it” people say an enthusiastic “YES”. If I say, “You’re going to get messy. At one point, I might pour milk on you.” They say, “Bring it.””
Meghan wishes to thank Shannon and Vintage Theatre for this wonderful opportunity. Special thanks also goes out to my partner in artistic shenanigans, Bennie Palko, who helped make these sessions possible.