Nancy's Sunshine
While it’s long over due I think our sponsor will still feel the weight of our gratitude…
In so many ways, our values align, and it’s a joy and an honor to carry forward the legacy of a woman who served as a conduit for hope. Nancy positively impacted the physical and emotional well-being of countless people before her passing in the spring of 2023.
Nancy’s Sunshine has played a major role in jump-starting print production and inspiring elements of our gallery showing at the Urban Cultural Arts & Event Center. Still, it would feel disingenuous not to share the deeper truth: Nancy was my grandmother.
Born in 1954 and living a vibrant life until 2023, my grandmother was, in every sense of the word, a pistol. She brought a bright, magnetic energy to every room she entered—full of spunk, lightness, and a jovial spirit that often managed to outshine even the dreariest of circumstances. Nancy embraced chance, love, and spiritualism with open arms. She ultimately found her calling in herbalism, offering not only the hope of natural medicine but also the deep healing that comes from being truly seen and heard. With each tincture or tea she shared, she also gave a piece of her heart, listening with a sympathetic ear and helping to cleanse and comfort those who sought her care.
Nancy had a profoundly generous soul. She was the kind of person who always had a card ready for a birthday, a life milestone, or simply to remind someone that they were loved.
Some of my fondest memories with her are woven with small, vivid details: wearing an itchy little outfit for birthday portraits at Sears, recognizing her signature scent of gel capsules, and listening as she spoke openly about the waves of emotion she felt while watching Disney movies. These moments, both tender and ordinary, are the threads that keep her spirit alive within me.
The growing collection of circles represents sameness, the steady consistency of being present, and, quite literally, circles. It also reflects my artistic focus: the contrast of stark black and white, the intimacy of shallow depth, the way a simple shape can hold both tension and harmony.
Life is deep and nuanced. One of the most resonant lessons I learned while watching Nancy was the value of being grossly transparent; to ick ourselves to the core with our realness, to speak the unspeakable, to say the thing out loud. I’ll never forget the joy on her face when she proudly shared the children’s book Everyone Poops by Taro Gomi. It validated a universal, if slightly uncomfortable, human truth. Something so ordinary, yet so often hidden behind layers of taboo. The fact that this basic reality was considered “gross” spoke volumes about the ways repression harms us. Of course, Everyone Poops didn’t magically cure generations of habits built on silence and suppression. But it planted a seed in mine.
Another memory that stands out is when Nancy would say to us, “You are so healthy.” It was meant as encouragement, perhaps referencing my physical health. But for me, it resonated on a much deeper level. I want to believe they felt my determination to fight fiercely for generational health, and to create a lineage of emotional well-being as much as physical.
Fighting a black sheep’s fight and encouraging the kind of emotional honesty that lets the words spill out, even when they bring discomfort. It’s about cleaning emotional wounds before covering them up, instead of hiding them away in spaces where shame and silence once thrived. Vulnerability, with ourselves and each other, is how true healing begins.
In the end, circles remind me that healing is a continuous cycle that asks us to show up, speak our truths, and create space for the next generation to live unburdened by the silence we chose to break. Thank you, Grandma for supporting this project and continuing a lesson of love.
To help support the legacy…
Take a moment to visit the Nancy’s Sunshine blog
or purchase the first edition of Circular Journey’s: Black and White Tales of Travel to experience the images and stories of this sponsored gallery show.