Women of the Elements

My name is Anabel De La Forêt, which translates in my ancestral tongue of French to Anabel Of The Woods. I have lived in the woods on the beautiful Gulf Islands for the last 10 years and in the jungles of Costa Rica for the last 2. I have been living sustainably with the earth and diving into my passions of birth work, supporting the feminine, and photography. My motive in photography is to capture the wild feminine, in all of her expressions. As somebody who has lived in the wild places for many years, I have been able to connect with the elements, cycles, and expressions of Earth in a myriad of ways. Living cyclically on Salt Spring Island has taught me a level of reverence for the elements that has inspired by mission to capture their beauty and magnificence through photography.

My passion for living with the cycles has also brought me deeper into my work as a doula and midwife. I have had the honour of supporting birthing women in every elemental setting, from snowstorms in Amish country to packed hospitals in Honduras to free births in trailers on Salt Spring.

The feminine can embody such a dynamic range of emotions and I have had the honour to witness and hold space for so many of them. Rage and power like fire, grief and death like the cycles of the earth, and the beauty and grace of water; all of these experiences are unique and beautiful in their own way, and my goal is to help all expressions of the feminine have a place in this world. It is these fierce moments of embodied connection and expression that inspires me to capture the photos that I do today. Supporting and living in alignment with the cycles of nature and the emotions of women has inspired me deeply and it is with reverence that I aim to capture this beauty.

Water represents the enveloping, receptive, and intuitive spectrum of the feminine emotional experience. Water allows us to feel safe, nurtured, and held, both within the womb of our mother and then here on the earth. These photos attempt to capture the mothering, sweet and tender aspects of the feminine experience.

Water

The element of Fire represents the wild, untamed, passionate and expressive feminine that is often outcast from the societal lens. It is raw power, expression, and creativity. Fire allows us to transmute our rage into effective action, and our anger into loving passion. This alchemical element evokes power in those it touches, and these photos aim to encapsulate this essence within the feminine.

Fire

Earth in this series represents deep attunement and embodiment of the cycles of creation. This does not exclude retraction, fallow, and grief. My goal with these photos if to make more room for the “ugly” and grief filled side of the feminine, opposed to the put together and poised side that our society deems as more feminine. These photos attempt to represent all stages of the cycles of earth. This explores how death is necessary for rebirth, and how when we surrender courageously to the cycles of earth we are metamorphosed and transformed.