Seeing Myself - A Journey Through Sobriety To Creativity by Sharon Walters

My Art…

Seeing Ourselves’ is a mixed media, collage series which began two years ago and now consists of over 200 pieces exploring identity, portraiture and beauty standards through images of women from the African diaspora with natural hair. During this time, I have created bespoke collage portraits, original collage works and limited-edition prints, some of which are now in homes across the world. In the past two years I have exhibited in a number of galleries, delivered workshops, been interviewed on podcasts and talked about the art series and sobriety.

In 2011 I graduated from Central St Martins with a degree in Fine Art as a mature student and in 2012 I gave birth to my second child. After experiencing anxiety throughout much of my life and post-natal depression after the birth of my second child in 2012 I was definitely at a stage where I believed achieving many of my dreams was just that… a dream with no real possibility of ever being my reality. However, looking at my life now and all the positive shifts which have occurred, I see a clear correlation between my recharged passion for life and my newfound sobriety. Allow me to explain why.

Being Still…

In January, 2018 I sprained my ankle whilst out running.  I was truly devastated by this as although I had only committed to running just 4 months prior, it had quickly become my go to for stress relief as well as a means of improving on my overall fitness. Having this release taken away from me to allow for healing left me with the unexpected gift of time which as a working mother of two was a rarity!

I had already been sharing a few images of my artwork on social media and through my online community was encouraged to use my ‘downtime’ to really focus on my art.  I took their advice and haven’t looked back since. Until this point I had been painting abstracts and the occasional portrait but didn’t really have much of a clear theme or passion to my work, but slowly things began to change.

I decided to work with whatever materials I had at home and I wanted to work in a medium which enabled me to be playful, free and creative and I had to work in a medium conducive to being seated while I recovered from my ankle injury. It had been a while since I had created collages, but I decided to go for it! As I began to look through the magazines for inspiration, I became increasingly aware of the lack of diversity especially when looking for images of women who were of African descent, but even fewer had natural afro hair. Every time I found an image which fitted that particular description, I would cut it out and start reassembling it with textural cuttings, backgrounds and botanical imagery as a way of conveying a story of the beauty of natural hair and blackness. The process became both therapeutic and a way of creating an indirect self portrait of my present state of mind. Then I would post photos of the pieces on my Instagram account as a way of communicating my message with my audience.

I started to make new pieces daily for months despite working part-time at the museum and having a small family. Through creating the series, I began to think about who I had once dreamt of becoming, I had always wanted to be an artist and I realised I had let lots of things get in the way. Creating the series gave me time and space to reflect and the mindful practice of making intricate works helped me to relax. The positive impact on my mental health continues to slow things down and center me.

The Catalyst…

Running was the catalyst in leading me towards sobriety. The more I became immersed in the ‘running world’ the more my tolerance for certain levels of alcohol decreased.  Even one glass of wine per day impacted on my ‘running performance levels’. I now understand this period to be known as ‘mindful drinking’ where I would drink but not to excess and just be very mindful of my intake. Gradually even the odd glass of wine started to have immediate effects and I experienced piercing headaches even after only a couple of sips. For years I had toyed with the idea of sobriety on and off but I enjoyed having a drink and it had always been part of the way I socialised from my teens through to adulthood.

I have been sober for a year now and I drank mindfully for a year prior to that. I have seen major improvements to my overall wellness,I still socialise a lot and being sober whilst still embracing and celebrating my innate ‘social butterfly’ tendencies has opened up an entire new world to me. I create far more than ever before in my life and I am more focused, driven and confident. My mental health has been better than it has ever been in my entire life.

Through my collage series I aim to take up space, to occupy spaces and environments where I might often not be seen. I aim to celebrate the diversity of our many identities as black women. The combination of creating ‘Seeing Ourselves’ and sobriety have been an important part of my story. Sobriety has given me a new clarity, and even though like all of us I continue to face challenges, I do now understand that anything truly is possible and that at any stage in your journey you can change direction and create the life you have always dreamed of.

Sharon Walters is an artist, educator and part-time coordinator of community engagement programmes at a London museum. She is of Barbadian, Aruban and Grenadian heritage. In 2011 she graduated from Central St Martins with a BA in Fine Art, holds a Post Graduate Teaching and Learning Certificate in post-16 citizenship education, and a BA in social science from Thames Valley University now University of west London. Since January 2018 Sharon has been working on a mixed media collage series entitled ‘Seeing Ourselves’; now with over 200 pieces in the collection she has exhibited in a number of public spaces including the Mall Galleries and the New Ashgate Gallery in Surrey. She has also delivered workshops and talks exploring collage and more recently, sobriety. Sharon shares work regularly on her London_artist1 Instagram account. 

You can find Sharon on Instagram @london_artist1 or visit her website www.londonartist1.com