When my husband died in 2016, my life turned upside down. I was completely at sea.

For a year and a half, I could not budge from that frozen place. Over time I understood that artwork could get me through to the other side.

I moved my bed into a tiny room with a southern exposure. At night, the moon traveled across the sky in her different phases, and bathed me with her soft light. I’d awake, lie there consumed with anxieties and unable to sleep, and I would talk to the moon. Her soft light in the darkness offered hope. 

I would point my phone at her and photograph her many outfits. I was always disappointed that my phone camera made a mess of moonlight. So I had to learn how to photograph the moon.

“We Are Stardust” combines an enlarged and over-exposed moon with the landscape where she rose that evening. I added filters from antique photography processes. I played, not knowing where I was going, until I had arrived and the message was clear. These little lights and dust particles spoke of our origins as part of a galaxy of stars. 

This image reminded me that the overwhelming problems of my tiny life were part of a stunning reality far beyond my comprehension.

Part of the Dreams & Imaginings series, works of gratitude for the night sky, which has helped me to carry on with life during the darkest times.