Origin Story
“And when all that was left was ashes, she would again clothe herself in flame. Rising from the dust of her past to rekindle the spark of her future.”
-LaRhonda Torenson
Like a phoenix and the women I’ve interviewed for Fire to Gold, I have arisen many times from the ashes.This has become my superpower.
Fire to Gold was initially conceived in 2008 during a period of great adversity in my life. To earn a living, I was primarily doing contract training / consulting and some photo gigs. I was a single, never married, self-employed woman, with cats no children :-) I did not have a support system. I was navigating chronic health challenges and what I later discovered was PTSD due to encounters with violence during my service as a Peace Corps volunteer in Cameroon, Africa. I had unprocessed childhood and sexual trauma.
As an artist, I focused my spare time on creating and exhibiting photography projects that explored being human and being human together. I took the very first steps to direct my creative attention to being a woman at this time in history. This was the beginning sparks of Fire to Gold. Not long after I’d begun this inquiry, I broke both of my arms, one after the other. I then found myself winding my way through foreclosure and bankruptcy during the 2008-09 economic crisis. One of my greatest heartbreaks, my entire life plus my humanitarian artist self including Fire to Gold was put on hold.
Original Fire to Gold artwork featuring photography by Dawn Vogel and graphic illustrations by Carloni Studios.
Ten years later, in tandem with unraveling the complex layers of trauma, cultivating a new relationship with myself, others, the natural world and what is God to me, I rebuilt my life, my finances, my health, and ME. I landed a full-time client doing corporate video production. I began creating Fire to Gold anew. Since then, by day I work. I live simply, I keep healing, learning, growing and saving to have what I need to birth Fire to Gold and become an elder. On the weekends, I have incrementally been interviewing, photographing, and writing stories of women from a variety of backgrounds and traumatic experiences common to women. I have been incrementally creating the infrastructure which will become Fire to Gold’s outward expression. I have encountered many obstacles. As a tenacious one, I keep going.
“Rising from the ashes of its previous life, a phoenix is a mythical creature symbolizing life, hope and better things to come.”
What I’ve discovered, is that I am inspired (as you will be) by women who have arisen into their power despite sexual trauma, abuse, racism, genocide, displacement, death of loved ones, violence, systemic and self-oppression. I have also realized the profound impact of having or not having a support system, being seen, accepted, valued or not being seen, accepted or valued for who you are in your family of origin, community or world.
I have found mirrors to my own experience and the many forces that shape us, including a powerful thread of something greater than ourselves that gives us strength to go on. I have started to see collective patterns of what it means to be a woman in this age, both beautiful and horrible. I have revisited where we’ve been as women. I am seeing what is emerging and possible for a woman to be, including our impact for the good of the whole. I have received the gift of looking back, looking within, and unleashing an insatiable thirst to learn about feminine power and the complex layers of trauma that can keep us from that power. This same trauma that leads us to multifaceted layers of healing and propels us all forward.
I see now that I have been on a quest to find freedom from my own journey through the fire, where I belong and what is mine to do. I discovered that transforming my pain and stepping into my power is part of my purpose as is becoming a voice for other women to do the same.
I do not have children. However, Fire to Gold is my child that I have been raising, as mother’s do. She is becoming a beautiful body of work that will soon be leaving home and blossom into interactive photo exhibitions and women’s circles in Phase 1 for you to find clues to your own journey, healing, connection, what is possible for you and the impact you are destined for. And, we all get to see the collective impact of women rising into their power, creating a better future for us all.
Take a look behind the scenes, follow along as the project unfolds, explore partnership opportunities and be the first to know about upcoming exhibits and circles.
DAWN VOGEL
Artist & Founder of Fire To Gold: An Alchemy of Women’s Stories
“ My own lived experience has led to a heightened compassion for the many complexities of individual, collective and ancestral trauma for myself and others.”