Roots

A femme figure drawn in a deep, mahogany brown (using the monotype technique of indirect drawing) is depicted kneeling down with one hand holding a pile of seeds, and the other hand outstretched, planting a row of seeds. The seeds are sewn onto the page with a thin thread matching the color of the figure. Thai designs of rice plants grow up the legs of the figure and curve slightly onto her back. These Thai designs are colored a dark, mossy green and were created with relief prints which were then cut out and sewn onto the page.
Seeds are planted as Thai rice grows up the leg of a femme figured farmer. Illustration by Aubrey Pongluelert.

somewhere between
her mother’s ocean eyes
& her father’s leather hands,
she searches for land that will take her

she defines the places she goes
by their shades of green
& she envies them all
for their roots

she wonders if her love affair with growing
is a symptom of displacement

she pleas to the soil – 
if i learn you well enough,
will you hold me as your own?

and when she buries her hand,
lifts & listens,
the soil responds – 
watch the squash leaves unfurl,
see how their veins river the same as yours.
you have always been me,
& i have always been you.

Portrait of Aubrey

Aubrey Pongluelert (she/her)

aubrey is an Asian-American artist, food grower, and community organizer based in Missoula, MT (Selis and Ktunaxa lands), where she recently received her MS in Environmental Studies: Sustainable Food and Farming. aubrey’s passion and work centers around the interconnections between food justice, creative eco-storytelling, and intersectional ecofeminism. She finds delight in running fingers through bags of seeds, embroidering while listening to Joni Mitchell, and jumping into alpine lakes.

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