At 42, Zelitra Peterson, weighs about 145 pounds after once weighing over 500 pounds and before art “saved my life.”
Recently, her story and works helped accent an exhibit of local artists in Orange Mound.
“It truly has been a blessing to use my God-given talent to pull myself out of the pain, despair, and shame that I was feeling every day,” said Peterson, known in the art world as Madame Z.
“Having to wake up and pop pills and rely on the doctor for my medical treatments. I even took their suggestion to swallow poop. And even that didn’t help. In the end, it was my art that saved me.”
Peterson said she is resolutely past the “point of no return.”
“I will never return back to the old me, who felt victimized by my circumstances and my surroundings. I felt shame. I felt guilt for not being the person that I felt I wanted to be inside, but I was unable to because there were parts of myself that was afraid, stuck and deeply rooted in fear and always relying on the physicians for the answer.”
At a point, Peterson said she no longer could take her children to school, turning to homeschooling, which meant being at home sick.
“During that time, I turned to art. Art held me. It was more than just the color. It was more than just the experience of me putting paint to canvas. It was the experience of me living in every moment as I created that forced me to pay attention to what was within me, what I had on the inside.”
She knew some “very radical changes” were needed. First came a diet change and producing food she found tasty and satisfying. Laughing, she said, “thank God for the crockpot,” also acknowledging “smoothies all day”
“It actually helped me go from 569 pounds to 145 pounds within a number of years. It didn’t just fall off overnight, but I made it. I made it to the me that I am today, and I’ve been able to introduce myself into the art world by signing up for art shows.”
She relishes being able to transition…
Read the full article here
