It is hard to say when I learned self-love was a selfish thing. But, it was a lesson whose fruit and seed raised me into a woman that criticized herself into paralysis. In this state, I learned to elevate other individuals above myself as a means of self-fulfillment and validation of worth.The project ‘A God Called Self’, asks what if self-love is not a selfish thing after all. What happens if I were devoted to the act of loving myself? What happens if I put my needs on the same level as others, or even before others? What happens if I confront the self-deprecating language and replaced it with affirmations and kindness? What happens if I made a decision to make my being a place of worship -- adorned with patience, understanding, respect and love?

With this work, I wish to acknowledge the two sides made manifest in my being, an idealized/idolized version of self, an honest version of self, and the relationship I foster between them. I confront the truth of my own self-worth, in ways I seemed only able to see in others. Presenting these two facets of myself side by side, I acknowledge that there will be days I am unsure of my present self  and the self I aspire to be. That being said, I also am fully aware that there will be days that I live and breathe my own essence fully aware and accepting of my present self and the goals achieved to position me in the space I inhabit. 

This dual self-portrait (the worker and the worshiper/ god and self) invites me to stretch myself beyond the critic I have built myself into. It invites me to trust myself and to embody my love of self without guilt and social shame.