Take Your Time Loving Me: A Exploration of Layers

Margaux Kent, half of the husband and wife duo behind the brilliance that is Peg and Awl, has launched her Kickstarter campaign and with the clock ticking, I’d like to offer my thoughts on this project. And yes, I was sure to pledge to pick up a ring of a howling wolf set amongst stars and a linen handkerchief featuring the chalkboard writing of her eldest son, Søren. With his wise words defining the title of the project, Take Your Time Loving Me, as Margaux puts it, “… is for Mothers. And Fathers. And humans of all kinds.”

Following the creation of Margaux’s first book The Illness Apprentice, Take Your Time Loving Me is to be a photographic exploration of the many masks worn throughout the life of an artist, a wife, a mother, and a human being. The peeling back of these layers reveals what is of the past and the present and the unknown. Seen below is an example of the first of many images for this series. Margaux’s delicate images are extracted from polaroid film, as glimpsed in the Kickstarter video for this campaign.  “It tells you a place where weeds turn to rainbows when pressed into a book…” reads Margaux from her journal. The transformative nature of all things is the real story here. This is the evidence not of erosion, but of what beauty can be found when wandering. Some wandered and while priorities keep us bound to our obligations, there is still wandering for us to do. An exploration if not of external boundaries, at least of internal nature.

The inevitability of life’s ebbs and flows is realized in this story. I’ve heard stories from Margaux as to how she used to peddle to her shop in Ambler, many moons ago, in high heels and short skirts. Fast forward to the present Margaux of which I am aware and this is something I would never believe. There are layers to all of us. And to me as well – most of which I keep tucked away. It takes a braveness to put such effort, such heart into a campaign like this… Inspired by a book of Madame du Coudray, this project has evolved in this most dizzying web of life’s interwoven intricacies which, I believe, the timing is by no means coincidental… The importance of Margaux’s children as a life-altering force is central to this story as well. It is amazing how one can learn so much of themselves through others, and importantly here, through a life that one created. Even I am guilty of having learned something from her sons and have been infected by their laughter. Children are amazing creatures.

Someone once told me that they just wanted someone to howl with. Isn’t that beautiful? We each wear a lot of masks, carry a lot of unspoken histories, and gosh, we probably all look so much better in the dark or at least in the dark crevices of our own minds…  And to each of these, we must raise our glass and howl. They encompass much of our existence and contribute greatly to those before you. Take Your Time in Loving Me is reflective of this, I believe. The slow and inevitable evolution of each of us. Realized through the photography of Margaux Kent, discovery awaits. Please don’t take your time in checking out her Kickstarter page and contributing to her campaign. Thank you.