I am a contemporary nature artist who combines embroidery and paint on canvases to create landscapes and scenes. While most of my work is pleasing to look at, I recently took a risk and used my medium to express personal emotions regarding the state of our country and the world. The project began with the depiction of plants torn up out of the soil, their roots dangling loosely. Lifted into a dark turbulent sky, their blossoms and stems are tossed and twirled over a quiet American farm contrasting horticulture beauty with sinister forces. As I worked, I felt a range of emotions triggered by the brutal changes of the year 2025: Rage, sadness, outrage, hopelessness, grief, disgust, betrayal, unfairness, shock, dismay, insecurity, confusion, loss. I imagined the depth of collective trauma on all living things and felt compelled to further create powerful images expressing the darkness of this troubling year. I wanted to juxtapose images of American beauty with an overall atmosphere of dread. With this 4 panel piece, I have explored plant life (Uprooted), Female trauma (Uprooted Rose), Male trauma, (Uprooted Fallen Tree) and humanity, (Uprooted Heart). After completing Uprooted and posting it online, an interested viewer drew parallels between the piece and the Yugas in Hinduism. Yugas refer to periods of time during which the morality of man gradually diminishes. We are living in the Kali Yuga where "vice prevails and humanity experiences a significant decline in spiritual values and morality." Each panel is 48"x48" . The background sky and some additional details are painted with acrylic. Texture and the majority of foreground imagery is stitched on my embroidery machines.