Title: Bodies # 25. Margie Burns

Artist: David Lawrence

Edition: 1/1

A Note from Margie on this 25th image…

“Born February 27th, 1954. Selukwe. Northern Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) Africa. My early years were lived much like the movie Out of Africa. From a young age, my parents taught me resilience, curiosity, non-judgmental & gratitude.

Little did they know that I would call upon those 4 values later in life. At the age of 58, I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease.

When diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease my lifelong battle with a negative body image just escalated tenfold.

Now, not only was my body ugly it was to become useless.

Yes….resilience, curiosity, and, being non-judgmental became my building blocks to this new way of life.

However, gratitude became self-Gratitude.

Gratitude and love for this body of mine that I always expected the best from but never gave it the recognition for the endurance it sustained.

Transparently naked in front of the camera I deliberately stared through the lens, focused directly into MY eyes ….into my soul. I saw a once vulnerable body. Now, I was looking at a beautiful, imperfect, strong body. In those moments of nakedness, I found personal gratitude for the past, present, and future.

I do not seek to be inspiring, I only ask of myself and others living with PD to be resilient, curious, non-judgmental and most of all grateful to your naked body.”