What is Love Yourself For Art?

I was at a point in my life where my art was just for me. In a therapudic way this makes sense. But being someone that believes that art has power and a strong place in our world it seems counterproductive that I would spend so much of my life creating and sharing none of it. So I started brainstorming.

I feel strongly that art can change the world. Picasso's Guernica. Davide's Death of Morat. The Starry Night by Vincent Van Gogh. And so many others have all made huge impacts on their worlds at their time and after. I am in no way trying to be a Picasso or even attempting to reach such an audience. But I would like for my art to help at least one person. Reach someone.

I thought of my personal struggles and things about the world that I would change if I could. Where would I start? With a history of self harm myself, I aimed to help those who struggled with loving themselves. In August 2009, I had participants pledge a month of being self injury free and as a trade I would mail them a little piece of original art, about the size of a playing card. From there the project grew. The next year I wanted to help those who also struggled with eating disorders. Not something I personally experienced but it has definitely touched many of the lives that I love. As those years past, I kept wanting to open the project up more and more. Include more people. I kept seeing more ways that people expressed a dislike for themsleves. Self harm, eating disorders, mental health issues, and just the general thought at the back of your mind that says you're not good enough. Most of these will not be "solved" by a piece of art or a month's time of love. But I believe that being aware of how we treat ourselves is a first step to improvment. We all have a fear in us. And as long as that fear is there, we will never be able to make clear decisions that are true to who we really are. The only way to rid ourselves of the fear is love.  

LYFA has grown since Aug. 2009. We have on average 50 participants. And several gratious donors, some that have donated every year. I'm lucky to know them all.

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I'm starting sign ups today!

So shoot me a note or e-mail if you'd like to pledge the month of March and start loving yourself or even just being more aware of how you treat yourself. You're more than welcome to participate again if you have before.

Also feel free to contact me if you're interested in donating a mini piece of art to the cause. I've already started making pieces for this year, but for some reason I always seem to come out with just enough.

Or if you have any questions.

The e-mail is JFordham84(at)gmail.com

Almost forgot - I made a facebook page for LYFA as well. Here's the link: [link]