Come As You Are

Making faces is tricky.

Also me: Let's create an artwork with fourteen of them.

It took time and patience. There were moments when I wondered why I'd made life so difficult for myself. But two years later, this is still one of my collage artworks I’m most proud of.

It's called Connection.

Fourteen faces

When I look at it now, I still feel the emotions held within it. The joy of friendship. Quiet reflection. The comfort of being held in a difficult moment. The celebration of just being together.

Each person is different.

Not just in appearance, but in what they're experiencing.

Some are laughing. Some are comforting. Some are being comforted. Some seem content simply to be present.

Different ways to connect

For a long time, I thought connection was mainly about relationships with other people. Family. Friends. Community. Those relationships do matter a lot. Research consistently shows that meaningful social connection is one of the strongest predictors of our physical and mental wellbeing throughout life. Loneliness doesn't just affect our emotions - it affects our health.

But over time, my understanding of connection has expanded. Connection reaches in many directions.

It's found in the conversations we have with the people we love.

It's found in the wonder of noticing the world around us. If you walk through the bush with me, don't expect a fast walk. I'll stop to run my fingers over the bark of a tree, admire the tiny patterns in flower petals, or pick up an interesting gum nut. Connection with nature reminds me to slow down, pay attention, and remember that I'm part of something much bigger than myself.

Connection is found within ourselves.

Over the past few years, I've been learning to understand my own inner world with more compassion. Instead of expecting myself to think and feel one consistent way all the time, or experience only one emotion at a time, I've begun recognising the different parts of me that each bring their own concerns, strengths and perspectives. That understanding has helped me make sense of my own responses instead of feeling frustrated by them.

Understanding ourselves helps us understand other people too. The more aware I become of my own story, the easier it is to remember that everyone else is carrying a story as well.

That's what I see when I look at this artwork.

I don't just see fourteen faces. I see fourteen stories.

A place to belong

Each person arrives with their own history, personality, strengths, hurts, joys and struggles. None of us comes into a room as a blank page, or as a single mood. We each bring all the experiences that have shaped us.

Maybe that's why the phrase that keeps coming to mind when I look at this artwork is this:

Come as you are.

We're not all the same. We don’t all feel the same things. We don’t all respond to life in the same way.

But there's room for all of it.

We don't need to judge someone else's response simply because it looks different from our own. We don't know the story they're carrying. And we don't need to hide our own story either.

To me, that's what connection really looks like.

Not becoming more alike. Not ignoring or hiding our differences.

But creating enough safety that each person can bring their whole self. Everyone belongs in this picture because of what makes them unique. The whole is richer because they're here.

And maybe that's the invitation this artwork offers.

Come as you are.

Because you belong in the picture too.

Let's Stay Connected

If this post stirred something in you, I'd love to hear from you. You can find me over on Instagram and Facebook, where I share more about motherhood, art and neurodivergence.