Brave On The Rocks: If You Don't Go, You Don't See

Brave on the Rocks: If You Don't Go, You Don't See

"In the continuum of life and trying to discover my true self, Sabrina reminds me, through her brave, insightful, and heartfelt honesty, that we are all connected in this journey. We are connected through an intertwining sameness called the struggles and joys of finding and becoming our authentic selves. When I read her words, I felt acknowledged for my journey and for being a woman in these complex times... Thank you, Sabrina, for sharing your gift with us. May we all continue to share our journeys together so we know we are not alone."--from the Foreword by Hilary Swank, actorFrom the acclaimed twenty-five-year-old author/artist of the stunning visual memoir Spilling Open comes the all-new multimedia installment of her intimate journey Brave on the Rocks: If You Don't Go, You Don't See.Picking up where Spilling Open left off, Sabrina Ward Harrison tells us about the surprising reaction to her first book. Via her readers' letters and e-mails, she realized that through her journal she had become an identifying voice for women around the world. However, along with recognition came a certain pressure to uphold her new image. Overwhelmed by her attempt to live up to what she thought she had to become, Sabrina decided to head out on her own. She chose as her destination Italy, a place she had always dreamed and written about, a place she felt she could go to "recolor" herself. In her journey she discovered a universal identity with other travelers and a particular kinship with the women she met. But back home she struggled to keep her newfound confidence intact as she navigated her life.Harrison writes and illustrates with a powerful and creative voice. Her thoughts are real and brave. She explores with sensitivity questions of love, faith, growing pains, being true to oneself, and what it means to be unique. With unfaltering honesty, she allows us to witness and share in her reconnection with herself, her growing and reaching, and, ultimately, her voyage home again.From Publishers WeeklyHarrison's Spilling Open, the market phenom first published by a small press and then picked up by Villard, attracted young women in droves and was the subject of a USA Today cover story. The highly photogenic 25-year-old Canadian-born author/artist's next move was a retreat to Italy, armed with the paintbrushes, scissors, glue and pencils demanded by her montage art, to better reckon with the sudden external pressure. The result is part visual journal, part travelogue, part self-help guide and part feminist manifesto in a form reprising Spilling Open's collagist aesthetic and ethos. In it, Harrison speaks a self-questioning language most young adults will recognize immediately, whether they are famous or not: "Sometimes I feel isolated even more because readers may think that now because I am published... the aches... the questions... and the doubts must vanish... not so quickly" is sprawled across the second piece, in a childlike hand, which switches freely between lower case and capital letters, cursive and print. Comprising nearly 200 colorful collages, many incorporating writing, the book takes the art-therapy style espoused by SARK (Eat Mangoes Naked) and many others to further heights of art and catharsis, and ranges from mundanities ("The wrinkled balled-up black skirt just isn't pulling it off. It's better than shorts and a fanny pack for me though. No extra butt bulk!") to commentary (on tourists: "gripping onto their man's hand, him always leading the way, so much snapping pictures for proof what kind of proof? I don't believe in traveling this way") to mournful introspection. . (On-sale: Aug. 14)Forecast: Expect big sales among Gen-Y lipstick-feminist postslackers, denizens of the 11 cities Harrison plans to tour. Adults who were captivated by Griffin & Sabine may find this reality-based chronicle similarly compelling signaling a possible breakout, and certainly revived sales for Spilling Over.Copyright