Loo

Breastfeeding during my final MFA exhibition. This isn't a celebration, but there is joy in it. It's not glamorous, but it's composed. I'm wearing a white dress, lipstick, nail polish. The photo was taken in a random bathroom, and nothing really matches—the space, the body, the clothes—but it still works. You can see fatigue, traces of pregnancy, messy underwear, even old scars. But you can also see that I'm upright. I'm looking straight at you. Like in an Alice Neel painting—exhausted, maybe, but not pathetic.

I'm not pretending to be Alice Neel, but if there's one painting I wish I could afford to own someday, it's hers. There's honesty here, and a bit of quiet humor. I'm not cleaning it up for you. This is a moment I chose to keep.