"Healers" Photographs by Shauna Caldwell

November 11 - December 2, 2017 | Alexander Community Gallery

Every child has a dream. To be an astronaut. To be a father. To be a teacher. To help people as a doctor. But life is not kind to every child’s dreams. Too often the circumstances of one’s birth - circumstances beyond the “Being an Appalachian woman and herbalist, I am committed to honoring the women in my community.  So many people have forgotten the plants their grandmothers knew, and I believe it is important to find and understand this ancestral knowledge.

The women in this series have an intimate connection to the land and a beautiful and poetic way of communicating through plants and herbal medicine.  I want to express my gratitude for these inspirational women while deepening my relationship with the soft and quiet wisdom of plants.

My intention for this ongoing series is to create images in collaboration with my mentors, teachers, and elders because they have their own histories, their own stories, and a connection to the Earth that we need right now.”

Shauna Caldwell is an artist from Boone, NC.  Her roots in Appalachia and her relationship with the environment inspire her, allowing her to create work based on themes of sacred relationships and transformation.  She is also interested in using artistic processes that connect her to her home, like making paper and photographic emulsions using plants from the area.