Artist: Geraldine M Ysselstein
Name: “I Belong” (2023)
Material: Fibre weaving with wool.
Background: In early 2022, I took the “Cultivating Safe Spaces” program with Elaine Alec. One of the questions that Elaine asks is “Who do you belong to?” I let that question sit with me for a year before I wrote this poem about belonging to myself, family, community, the land and waters.
Each realm is represented by a different colour. The blue represents the water which flows and moves all around us. The yellow represents the possibilities of imagination in myself on this land. The brown represents soil layers of community. And the red represents my maternal and paternal bloodlines. I belong to the weaving and layers of all of this.
“I Belong”
Geraldine M Ysselstein (2023)
I BELONG. . .
To the places I have walked.
To the drip drop of water flowing.
To the rocks, sand, grass, and soil.
To the grieving ecological heartbreak.
I belong to land and waters.
I BELONG . . .
To the breath within me.
To the awareness of my existence.
To the stories woven into my being.
To the possibilities of my imagination.
I belong to myself.
I BELONG. . .
To the people around me.
To the reflection of connection.
To the languages spoken and unspoken.
To the messiness of contradictions.
I belong to community.
I BELONG. . .
To the knowledge of my reality.
To the whispering of my ancestors.
To the futures of my children.
To the unravelling of colonization.
I belong to family.