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Description
This is my entry for the Rebirth and Renewal Photomanipulation Competition in the Advanced Category. dragondew.deviantart.com/art/P…

This is my story, the rebirth of myself after overcoming child abuse. It was much harder and emotional than I first thought it would be. For me this happened a long time ago...twenty odd years.
After denying the fact that I had been affected by abuse in any negative way, the birth of my son changed all that. I started to realize just what had happened to me, the extent to which it had affected me and all my relationships. I was a victim and I didn't want to stay that way. I could either stay a victim and put all relationships and any chance for happiness on the line or I could strive to overcome all the effects, fight the darkness that threatened to engulf me, fight for love and happiness and become a survivor...I chose the latter. It was of course easier said than done. I did indeed become overcome by darkness for a long time, there were many times I thought that I would never see the light again, many times I thought I would not survive...but I persisted, I became stubborn. The monster would not win, I would never give up, I would overcome it no matter what...I owed it to my husband, to my son, to the daughter I wanted to have and most of all to myself.
The hardest to overcome was the powerful emotions that came with it, the darkest rage which was so frightening, I even feared that I would combust with it. It seemed never-ending. Then there was the deep, deep self loathing and despair...was anything I was doing even working? Would I ever see a glimpse of light at the end of this never-ending tunnel of pain and darkness?
Then quite suddenly out of the blue, there it was! I woke one day and felt different. The heavy weight had lifted from my chest and the first song I heard on the radio that day was 'I can see clearly now'. And I thought, YES I can!!! Here is the light at the end of the tunnel and I am enshrouded by it. It was a wonderful moment of liberation and release. To portray all this inner turmoil, pain and struggle was no easy thing.

I wanted to show the demons from the past that gnaw at your soul, the feeling of betrayal by those meant to nurture you, the crushing weight of it all on your soul. This I did by having the monster biting into the heart of the woman from behind...being stabbed in the back surrounded by a stifling, murky background containing hidden horrors and fears, while the inner child looks on, suffocating, screaming as she is forced to relive the traumas of the past and the present...helpless as her innocence, purity and trust is ripped away from her.

Then above all this, the woman who emerges from this darkness and seemingly without effort, shatters the monster with a flick of her finger. She is rebellious against this darkness and unwavering in her commitment to overcome it, to quash it. She has faith, she is filled with an inner strength that grows every day. She knows how to love and how to be loved. She can feel love now, she is confident and yes she loves herself as well. She is surrounded by a dawning new life, by endless possibilities. She is a new person, she has faced and battled the consequences of her abuse and her abusers and now the whole world lays at her feet. She is aglow with colour and light, anything is possible now, she has finally come into the light a new person. Yes she has scars but they are hidden beneath, in the past where they belong. The wind of change gently caresses her and blows away the last crumpled leaves of torment. Now she is a survivor. The past does not define you, it's only where you came from...the future is yours to be whoever you want to be.

A big thank you to all the stock providers

STOCK CREDITS:

Beautiful model: & &
Inner Child:
Chain:
Skulls & Demon: & elevit.deviantart.com/art/Demo…
Demon Hands: tasastock.deviantart.com/art/D…
Spider: kxhara.deviantart.com/art/Spid…
Foreground: katebloomfield.deviantart.com/…
Leaves and trees: evelivesey.deviantart.com/art/… & evelivesey.deviantart.com/art/…
Background top: pumpkinphotography.deviantart.…
Background bottom: by unavailable
Lighting effect by stiks-1969 Deactivated account.

Everything else is painted in PS. Thanks so much for viewing and for any favs

Description
This is my entry for the Rebirth and Renewal Photomanipulation Competition in the Advanced Category. dragondew.deviantart.com/art/P…

This is my story, the rebirth of myself after overcoming child abuse. It was much harder and emotional than I first thought it would be. For me this happened a long time ago...twenty odd years.
After denying the fact that I had been affected by abuse in any negative way, the birth of my son changed all that. I started to realize just what had happened to me, the extent to which it had affected me and all my relationships. I was a victim and I didn't want to stay that way. I could either stay a victim and put all relationships and any chance for happiness on the line or I could strive to overcome all the effects, fight the darkness that threatened to engulf me, fight for love and happiness and become a survivor...I chose the latter. It was of course easier said than done. I did indeed become overcome by darkness for a long time, there were many times I thought that I would never see the light again, many times I thought I would not survive...but I persisted, I became stubborn. The monster would not win, I would never give up, I would overcome it no matter what...I owed it to my husband, to my son, to the daughter I wanted to have and most of all to myself.
The hardest to overcome was the powerful emotions that came with it, the darkest rage which was so frightening, I even feared that I would combust with it. It seemed never-ending. Then there was the deep, deep self loathing and despair...was anything I was doing even working? Would I ever see a glimpse of light at the end of this never-ending tunnel of pain and darkness?
Then quite suddenly out of the blue, there it was! I woke one day and felt different. The heavy weight had lifted from my chest and the first song I heard on the radio that day was 'I can see clearly now'. And I thought, YES I can!!! Here is the light at the end of the tunnel and I am enshrouded by it. It was a wonderful moment of liberation and release. To portray all this inner turmoil, pain and struggle was no easy thing.

I wanted to show the demons from the past that gnaw at your soul, the feeling of betrayal by those meant to nurture you, the crushing weight of it all on your soul. This I did by having the monster biting into the heart of the woman from behind...being stabbed in the back surrounded by a stifling, murky background containing hidden horrors and fears, while the inner child looks on, suffocating, screaming as she is forced to relive the traumas of the past and the present...helpless as her innocence, purity and trust is ripped away from her.

Then above all this, the woman who emerges from this darkness and seemingly without effort, shatters the monster with a flick of her finger. She is rebellious against this darkness and unwavering in her commitment to overcome it, to quash it. She has faith, she is filled with an inner strength that grows every day. She knows how to love and how to be loved. She can feel love now, she is confident and yes she loves herself as well. She is surrounded by a dawning new life, by endless possibilities. She is a new person, she has faced and battled the consequences of her abuse and her abusers and now the whole world lays at her feet. She is aglow with colour and light, anything is possible now, she has finally come into the light a new person. Yes she has scars but they are hidden beneath, in the past where they belong. The wind of change gently caresses her and blows away the last crumpled leaves of torment. Now she is a survivor. The past does not define you, it's only where you came from...the future is yours to be whoever you want to be.

A big thank you to all the stock providers

STOCK CREDITS:

Beautiful model: & &
Inner Child:
Chain:
Skulls & Demon: & elevit.deviantart.com/art/Demo…
Demon Hands: tasastock.deviantart.com/art/D…
Spider: kxhara.deviantart.com/art/Spid…
Foreground: katebloomfield.deviantart.com/…
Leaves and trees: evelivesey.deviantart.com/art/… & evelivesey.deviantart.com/art/…
Background top: pumpkinphotography.deviantart.…
Background bottom: by unavailable
Lighting effect by stiks-1969 Deactivated account.

Everything else is painted in PS. Thanks so much for viewing and for any favs