Root & Radiance
Before there was a body,
there was longing.
A quiet pull.
An invisible yes.
Not toward life,
but as life,
finding two expressions.
One entered through flesh.
One through light.
Neither too early.
Neither too late.
One teaching me how life roots itself.
The other how it remains untouchable.
One became Some Thing.
The other No Thing.
Yet both continue to move through me,
Every day.
One to inhabit.
One to receive.
Eros has never belonged to bodies alone.
It is the force that opens the seed,
lifts the tree,
bends the tide,
and calls light through matter.
I carry you, both
In all the ways
All ways.
Root & Radiance came into being through my twin daughters, Bowie and Sanah. Born from the same beginning, they revealed to me that life has never been interested in repeating itself. Even when two lives share the same origin, they may unfold through entirely different expressions.
One came into my arms.
The other remained in light.
For a long time, I experienced these as two separate realities. Nature gradually revealed something else. The palm does not seek the light. It does not pursue, possess or become it. It simply grows in the direction that is uniquely its own. In remaining faithful to its own becoming, it creates the conditions through which light can move.
The image became a living reflection of what my daughters continue to teach me. One reveals the intelligence of embodiment: the courage to take form, inhabit a body and root deeply into existence. The other reveals the intelligence of radiance: the unseen dimensions of life that cannot be held, yet continue to illuminate, shape and transform.
Together, they dissolved the illusion that life has only one valid expression.
Root & Radiance is therefore not a work about absence, nor solely about motherhood. It is an exploration of life’s remarkable capacity to express itself through radically different forms, each complete in its own way.
One became Some Thing. One remained No Thing.
Neither exists without the other.
SPECIFICS
Epson Museum Etching Paper 350 g
Montage dibond 2 mm
Profile R/R alu med 40×14
Full-fledged ink
Not For Sale – Wholeheartedly created for Bowie Sanah Gram-Helsen
Lize Helsen
Heartcore Therapist & Beeldend Kunstenaar
Lize Helsen is a clinical sexologist at Heartcore, where she combines therapy and photography. She focuses on Erotic Intelligence as a foundation for healthy relationships and enhanced self-awareness. Her deep passion for nature and visual art finds expression in the *All Things Wild* photo series, where she uses the power of nature to reveal deeper layers of human emotions, growth, and connection.
Feel free to reach out via hello@lizehelsen.be or through the contact form below.
I’d love to hear from you!
Liefs!
Lize
