Paula Roscoe - Age 52

When you came to the workshop what inspired you to come and take part? 

The title called to me. ‘I am Woman’, for that is what I am and I felt it was my time to celebrate that fact. I am unique in all ways and society is trying to diminish me.

What did you receive, get to understand or learn about yourself and your body from creating your art on the I Am Woman day? 

I learned where I still felt pain, where I still held grief and I was given the time to hold it, work with it and release it. I learned that I had become conditioned so badly by society and parental guidance that my hatred for my own body was still raw. I felt let down by my body, having had two beautiful children, one died, the other has special needs. My body is so traumatised that it refuses to heal and has many aches, pains and trauma’s still do work through.

What does it mean to you to have a female body in our modern day world?

It feels like a battle every day between freedom to be me and needing to be safe. Society seems to hate women and all that we are. Kind of feels how I’d expect during the witch trials? Women were persecuted for being women and I’m seeing it happen again. The ‘modern world’ is not a safe, friendly, accepting place for woman. Men still believe we are here for their pleasure whether we like it or not. We are sexualised, domineered, demeaned and ignored in many ways. A simple act of walking my dog, I automatically calculate my safety. THAT is perverse, sick, twisted and wrong...But right now, it is necessary

How do you feel about your body today? 

I am struggling with it as menopause is moving in. My body is rebellious with weight gain, which brings extra pain in my feet and with that comes guilt and shame for not being ‘beautiful’ and ‘agile’ anymore and it grieves me. My soul is a warrior, but my body is a fat mess of crap! I will continue to work on these feelings and trust I find middle ground sooner, rather than later