Honey reached out to me via email in the most endearing fashion for which the written word will allow. Formal, yet warm and engaging. We had some back and forth discourse and I knew immediately that I wanted to shoot with her. She waxed poetic about ageing, women's visibility and changes through life's journey. Relating more specifically to the project, she noted that she had an eggplant arrive on her cheek at some point and she felt it would fit right in.  After some further (and delightful) communication, we settled on a date to get together and shoot. 

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Walking up to her building, you can't help but notice the forever classy looking art deco styling and I knew this had to be the right place. Nothing less would have suited such a creative spirit. Once I arrived at her apartment, she apologized for the 'accumulata', a lifetime of things all carrying some sort of memory or meaning. There is art of some kind everywhere you turn, a photo with esteemed Canadian poet/musician Leonard Cohen, some awards, sheet music and centrally in the voice coaching/living room, a piano along the wall. She hands me a vinyl copy of some work she did with just her vocals and a percussionist. "This got me to Carnegie Hall" she notes. There are a few copies of her book, "Bob Dylan, My Rabbi (How Does It Feel?)" out for her visitors and students to peruse. Said book is one of her complete catalogue that was purchased by the National Art Gallery in Ottawa as part of their General Idea Reading Room. You can tell she lives a life full of art and music and beauty in many forms.

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In between shots, we chatted about everything under the sun. We were floating down the stream of consciousness  drifitng from topic to topic and settled for a bit on what makes her skin unique. "I think of my personality as my uniqueness but my skin tags and eggplant appearance on my lower left cheek, to me are rewards of aging, like witnessing history and having proof. I don’t know the official medical term maybe a liver spot. Women are held to a certain beauty standard. For me, this is an impediment. It’s like if we don’t look a certain way, then we’re imperfect. In some way, we are all imperfect but when we think of imperfection as something 'wrong', we create illnesses and a feeling of wanting more, not having or being enough and we open the door to misery and suffering. Nobody told me I’d have these growths on my face. I should be cringing in shock but I’m not. In order to lead to a conversation of a new kind of beauty, I have to set the example. In a sense, it’s revolutionary = to stand up to the model industry standard and say..NO, this is greatness!" Honey speaks with a look of stern seriousness through some topics but punctuates it with a wry, sideways smile, like she's just gotten away with something. There was an abundance of smiles as we spoke frankly and cheerfully about some difficult topics. "I describe my eggplant appearance as a wake-up call to understanding that change happens. Our bodies change, sometimes our opinions. At first, I was horrified that this 'thing' appeared and then IT started to grow. I thought, perhaps, it had something to do with my teeth or gums but then realized, it is in the skin. I didn’t think it would kill me but I thought my ego just might if I didn’t change my perspective. Now (and after coming to terms with it) and meeting you, I think of it as a badge of honor – that which makes me different than I was before. I’m 74 now. Not everybody gets to live to see their 8th decade." 

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Final Thoughts:

When asked about if it's had a positive influence in anyway, she went on to say "The positive impact it has, is that my face is new to me and I have to get used to a whole new sense of reality, or vanity. It also was a way for me to think in terms of confidence. How I hold my head shows whether I feel confident or not. Some people tattoo themselves, I didn’t but I wear this 'thing', this eggplant-style, aubergine kiss, knowing that some people don’t even see it, they see me." She continued "I have veins showing on my hands, skin tags on my neck and an eggplant, aubergine kiss on my cheek. I say, 'let’s all celebrate our uniqueness, and value that which makes us different'. Beauty is in the perception and this singular, rare coloring makes me almost a rainbow child. It’s truly revolutionary in that it is a step towards change-making. How many girls and women are defined by their looks, their appearance and don’t develop themselves? How many people accept a certain standard of appearance without question? We wear our appearance in our facial gestures and tone of voice. Being intrepid and bold is a new light for a lantern to see into an unexplored world of 'this is me'. Without question, or curiosity, is there true engagement with oneself? If we hate our looks and try to change them, what does that say about us a society?"

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Honey has a deep sweetness to her (pun, thoroughly intended) and it comes out in almost everything she says. "Because of artists, like you and many others, I can look at this coloring, not as a disfigurement but as a souvenir of a life spent incredibly well and enriched and always changing. I like expressing that this aubergine kiss is a message from an unknown source telling me that a new conversation needs to be embarked. We pave the way by our voice and our desires to be human beings that not only succeed in life but PREVAIL. Against all challenge and difficulty and uncertainty, we prevail and then light the way for others to join."

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You can find Honey teaching 'Voice Yoga', an approach to vocal expressions at the Secret Handshake Gallery here. She also does performances, workshops and is a songstress/poetess in in schools. She signs with the former Parliamentary Poet, George Elliott Clarke as well as Bill Bissett. In October, 2023, she'll be doing a recording of acapella songs and poems with some covers as well.

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