There are moments in life when we are given the opportunities to learn, reflect, and grow. These opportunities can find themselves in places of patient care, friends, colleagues, family, and loved ones. When considering wellness, there are seasons in life that also arise where people come in and out of our lives. It has been said there are individuals and experiences that come into our lives for a reason, a season, or possibly a lifetime. Some of these experiences are with people we may know and see in our everyday current experience. However, I wonder, if there is also merit in looking at our histories—collectively and individually—to come to places of wellness, as wellness can take on many faces, experiences, and categories of lessons. Some of these categories could be financial, some health-related and physical, some spiritual, some mental, and some still having to do without own cultural histories and genetic propensities. Considering the many generations that make up each and every one of us, there could be a place of beauty, healing, and wellness in honoring and remembering those that allowed us to become who we are today–physicians, community leaders, mothers, fathers, grandparents, aunts, uncles, siblings, and the like.
As I considered this, much of the multicultural tapestry that makes up the beauty of the United States and many individuals residing therein. There are lovely stories of my great, great, great grandfather being the only literate man on the boat landing at Elis Island. He assisted his fellow travelers in transcribing their own names onto documents when so many were unable. There are stores of farmers and business owners. Stories of individuals with sordid pasts and stories of individuals overcoming against all odds. Stories of my great grandmother working as a waitress in a hotel until age 75 to be able to make ends meet. My grandfather, trained as a pipe fitter, serving in the Korean war as a mechanic for large machinery. Upon his return to the United States, he assisted in the design, construction, and maintenance of a high school in the Midwest, training his colleagues and young people to take on his trade and skills. However, there are also stories of struggles. My Great-Great-Grandmother was half Osage. Her mother was likely part of a trade experiment with the Osage people and the European settlers to the area in Centra lowa, stretching to northern Missouri. This merging of cultures results in the trading of 100 Osage women for 100 recent European women settling to the region in an effort towards peace and assimilation. My Great-Great-Grandmother was a byproduct of such a union. She had many children and was left by her husband to raise them on her own.
In an effort to understand and honor her and my who place in history, I created images that combined her grave rubbings with additional symbolism and visual reference and story-telling. These paintings are an honor to her, her culture that was left behind during a trade deal, her pain, her tenacity and courage to stay the course despite all odds. One of the oldest of the children was housed in a local mental health facility in a small farming town in Central Iowa and she stayed close to ensure he was well cared for. They are buried next to one another in a small farmer’s charity graveyard, often termed in those days as a Pauper’s Field. The grave rubbings references were obtained at this site.
The Osage people have a deep and rich history. Much of it is known via stories and lore, as much of the history was recorded on leather, plant material, and on the skin of the tribe members in the form of tattoos. The men’s bodies would be covered in tattoos regarding wars and warfare, including weapon trophies, spears, knives, and the like. The women were nearly completely covered in tattoos that included symbolism regarding birth, death, stories of creation, and their family lineage. The series of drawings shown here are a quiet attempt made over the last year or two regarding my Great-Great-Grandmother’s story. A story of struggles and strife, economically and with gender discrimination, but also stories of resilience, loving her children and raising them against all odds after being displaced culturally.
Sometimes life gives us an opportunity to quietly process where we are from in an effort to create wellness and healing along the path, contributing to generational healing and give way to the places we are to go, lessons we get to learn, and people we get to love along the way. I’m grateful for the opportunity to share these explorations in the form of drawings with you. Created over the last two years regarding stories that have been created and lived over generations, I hope to share in the honoring of generational healing, giving way to wellness in my own experience and across my own family history. As a part of a wellness journey, I share this exploration with you, my fellow physicians and healers. I hope it may give way to a moment and space to consider and honor some of our own collective and individual journeys. We each have our stories. I look forward to sharing and hearing about your journeys, lovely members of this amazing community.
Ode To Maude #5, 2025
Ode To Maude #4, 2025
Ode to Maude #3, 2025
Ode To Maude #2, 2024
Ode To Maude #1, 2024
