18/05/2026
The how.
When I started my calligraphy journey, I was a new mom in the US and I did not like it. I LOVED being a mom and I loved my kiddos of course, but for the first time of living in the US, my disdain for the country became unbearable. I have never felt at home and moved around like a crazy person, trying to find somewhere - anywhere - where I fit in. But this was a different deal. I couldn’t fathom not having paid maternal leave and affordable childcare which I knew my friends had at home. While I had 6 weeks off with 55% of my salary and another 14 weeks off unpaid, it was very generous (thank you California!), my husband had TWO whole days off. We had twins so it was a tough pill to swallow in many ways, even though of course I knew what it looked like before having kids. I have always been very engaged and well aware of US policies and politics but life happened.
And then Donald Dump entered the scene from his escalator and, for the first time of having lived in the US, I hit a complete wall. I questioned everything. I questioned how many of my friends and neighbors thought this was just “gods will”. I questioned why in the freaking world I had kids in this country when I in fact could have stayed and lived a normal, secure and safe life at home. I questioned pumping milk for my kids in the office, storing it in a fridge full of other women’s milk. I questioned how what I thought would the groundbreaking election of the first female US president turned into such an awful, dreadful fu***ng dump fire. “Imagine if we knew then what we know now” you may think. Well, many of us did fear all of this would come true.
Anyway. Back to the lettering. Although I always worked in the art field, modern calligraphy was new to me. I found a random lettering workshop in San Diego where I lived at the time, and knew within minutes that THIS. IS. IT. My gawd! It was like I found the future.
Six years ago we moved home. The twins, my husband and I. The lettering is more than a an expression of disdain now; it is a full time job. And will always be an outlet of all things that need to be expressed.