The Body Remembers

The Body Remembers

I know the version of myself

that has forgotten my rape the best.

She is home. She is familiar.

She is successful.

The version of myself

that can do nothing but remember,

and freeze.

and scream in her sleep.

She is a scared stranger.

The body knows what the brain has buried.

~~~

“I want to know

what it means to survive

something

does it just mean

I get to keep my body?”

-Olivia Gatwood, Life of the Party

NOT FOR SALE. INSTALLATION, OR PHOTO PRINTS FOR EXHIBITION, INQUIRE HERE.

McDougall, Maddie. The Body Remembers. 2020. Akua transfer prints, chalk and acrylic ink on paper.