48 of 159

|

As the chill of winter recedes, spring's warm embrace brings hope. The shadows of oppression, the strength to mend the fractures within our families and communities. This is not just a season's change, but a call to unity, a reminder that together, we can weather any storm and emerge into the light of a new day. Let's carry this optimism forward, we are all painters of our collective future.

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...