Falling Awake

Words by Alice Cherry

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Theme: Xenos

Nominated by Charlotte Brownlee

To have the deepest parts of myself revealed in ways

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I think of you under the light of the moon lying awake I have dreams of you in a quiet, unspoken place that is ours A place where time stands still

I feel you in the arms of the ocean In the green of the trees on my fingertips

I feel you in my daydreams head floating above drifting amongst the clouds

When I close my eyes a place beyond the universe of my cluttered mind

This is where I learn to sit to reflect to have the deepest parts of myself revealed in ways I can not predict

A stranger to myself we sit together reflections that do not match I feel your hands on my body but they are not yours they are strange a place that does not feel like home Holding hands An embrace that doesn’t quite fit awkward and uneasy I have questions for you but my voice is silent mind wandering Escaping

I wrap my arms around you, hold you close and whisper softly, trying to remember I am looking for you for when I do not feel whole It is you I find you in-between breaths when my body feels it might explode I am searching waiting wanting hoping

And then you return to me Unexpected as quick and you disappeared I feel you everywhere I am breathing Joy fills my every pore I am a garden waiting for the sun to shine Warm on my skin bursting into bloom

But I do not know Where do you go How long were you gone How long will you be around? I am waiting for you to return to me

Searching for the calm Finding a way to hold you in my skin I am falling awake

Alice is a Sydney-based artist whose practice investigates the relationship between constructions of identity and how this influences the representations of the female form. Through exploring constructs of gender, sexuality, understandings and representations of the personal, she explores how to deconstruct misleading, stereotypical perceptions associated with femininity.

Created with the intention of vulnerability, Alice explores how mental health is represented in mainstream culture, and through expressing her own experience, hopes that it normalises a plethora of emotional states that we as humans experience.

When she isn’t creating art, Alice is tending to her many plants, exploring her new interest in writing and daydreaming in nature.

Alice Cherry nominates Mercedes Cherry

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