Portfolio
Shame Shame Go Away
Annika Grace knows shame and guilt firsthand. She has lived a life of abuse, abandonment and rejection, believing she deserved every bit of it. From childhood through three abusive marriages, she sacrificed her sense of self in her desire to be loved and respected, not understanding she first has to love and respect herself.
That was until this retired pastor found her voice and a life of freedom from shame, blame and pain. Through this heartbreaking and brutally honest memoir, Anika expresses who she really is and what she has become by accepting and loving herself.
On her spiritual journey, she accepts a truly forgiving God who offers her the unconditional love she has sought her entire life. She learns that this God expects her to not only survive, but to seek a life that thrives on love, joy and peace.
This cover design brings to light the abuse the author went through in all of her marriages that, on the surface, looked like the perfect household environment but beneath told a different story.
The font resembles that of embroidering done and hung around the house, bringing a very homey and happy feeling to the cover, but upon reading the title, each piece of thread brought through the embroidery paints a darker picture.
The author, being of dutch heritage, married all dutch men and lived in dutch communities her entire life. One’s private life is rarely spoken about in these communities, so she just went through all of it and cried alone. There are famous Dutch Kissing Dolls and statues that show a dutch boy and girl bending in towards each other to kiss, which normally represents a very cute and loving action between the two. But when the woman is bent in hoping for that love and compassion and the man is bending out the opposite way with their back turned, it creates an entirely different feeling from what normally is such a cute figure set.
In editing the dolls, I added a small tear to the woman’s face, not super noticeable, but once you get close enough you can see the struggle in which she is going through. These edited figurines were a complete representation of her entire relationships and struggles within, the glossy outside and seemingly healthy and happy relationship from far away, but then seeing the cracks and sadness hidden underneath upon closer inspection.
