Ava Balis

Have You Ever Been Mine? Ava Balis

This poetry and art collection explores the ways in which the body comes to be defined by others until one's own self-worth becomes intimately tied to these definitions and expectations. This is a memoir told though poetry and art, entwining experiences of eating disorders, self-hatred, and hurtful relationships through one common thread: a learned reliance on basing who you are and what you're worth on others' definitions of you. In the end, it is not through moving outside of one's body but is instead in reclaiming what it means to inhabit one's body fully and lovingly that healing begins.