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Are You Real?" shows the blurred line between reality and nightmare that I felt. The swirling lines and bright, contrasting colors create a sense of confusion and chaos, showing how hard it was to tell what was real and what was just in my head. The frantic energy and abstract shapes in the painting express the intense emotional turmoil and the nightmarish feeling of my experience, capturing the terror and surrealism of my crisis. This painting is a raw and expressive portrayal of my inner struggle, capturing the essence of a mind gripped by deep fear and uncertainty.

Painting is therapeutic for me. I express my trauma, recovery, fear of improving, hope, despair, profound shame, anger, true joy, newfound sexuality, and qualities in myself I never knew existed. I am breaking through and processing. I love seeing my artwork evolve with my mental health. Sometimes, I imagine breaking through a black-painted window and escaping a dark room, a lightless place filled with razors and broken mirrors. Outside, there are shards of glass everywhere. It is still painful, but I finally escaped. And the wounds will heal. They are healing. I pour my soul into my paintings because I must stay grounded. My parts, my emotions. I urgently and compassionately create visual representations of them because if I don't, the...