Shards & Shadows: The Both/And
Sitting in my lil van studio at Tierra Azul Designs, I stare at a pile of broken glass, and honestly; It feels like a mirror of the world outside.
It’s hard to talk about "art" and "light" without sounding like I’m full of shit.
Let’s be real: we are navigating a landscape that is straight-up predatory. We’re watching an administration lean into blatant racism and systemic oppression, protecting the white, the wealthy, and the powerful while the rest of us are left to pick up the pieces.
Between that and the stomach-turning reality of the Epstein files, the "brokenness" isn't a metaphor—it’s a goddamn wrecking ball.
The "Both/And" isn't a peaceful place to be. It’s a combat zone.
It’s acknowledging the horrific shit happening to real people right now AND refusing to let that darkness have the last word. It’s the grit under my fingernails and the sharp edge of a tile that draws blood.
The Both: The rage, the exhaustion, and the absolute disgust at the people running this show.
The And: The stubborn, defiant act of still trying to piece something together.
I know I’m not the only one white-knuckling it and flailing through this.
I know many of you are struggling to find a reason to create, or even just a reason to exist with hope, when the systems above us feel designed to crush anything that isn't "them."
But here’s the thing about a mosaic: you can’t make one without the break. The light only has a place to go because of the cracks.
We are living in the cracks right now. If you’re feeling the weight of it, if you’re angry, if you’re grieving—you’re doing it right. Don't let them gaslight you into thinking this is normal. We hold the pain, and we keep piecing the light back together because that’s the only way we don't get swallowed whole.
Stay gritty. Stay loud.
Don't stop living, loving, laughing and creating. That is a form of resistance necesarry to keep fueling the fires to burn all this shit down.
In acknowledment of the both, and...
Yours truly, Amy - XXX
