Grief, Trauma & Healing
Life is hard, art is healing.
This series is done over the years as a way to process and heal from living life, focusing on and capturing the emotions during hard moments. The artworks in this section are organized by year of creation.
This digital illustration was created while at the hospital dealing with a miscarriage, representing the anger and frustration that comes with losing a child. While drawing this on my tablet while laying in my hospital bed, I was in the labor and delivery ward, listening to new life being brought into the world repeatedly for 3 days straight. This illustration kept me sane while heavily grieving my loss.
Digital Illustration
1152 × 864 pixels
2020
Angel Mom
This was created soon after getting diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis—a systemic autoimmune illness that leads to chronic health complications, very similar to Lupus. I began getting medicated for it, and the sudden change in my body was so drastic that I felt trapped in a life sentence.
Watercolor and Acrylic on Canvas
9 × 11 inches
2021
Trapped
New Journey Ahead
This work was created soon after a tragedy happened at my place of work. A shooting that took my best friend, Sarah. She had a love for art just like I did, and always encouraged me to get out of my comfort bubble. When she passed, I created this digital collage on my phone, mixing both of our experiences of death into one image. I then printed it onto a canvas to present to my fellow coworkers at her celebration of life party. The staff were in awe—I wasn’t there when it all went down but I still managed to choose the exact outfit she passed in. The piece was later hung on the walls of the hotel as a tribute to the amazing person we lost. The most interesting part about this piece is that it is the work that got me into art school. I can’t help but wonder if Sarah had a hand in making that possible.
Digital Collage Printed on Canvas
24 × 24 inches
2022
After losing my first close loved one, I needed a way to release the grief. Through creation, I figured out how to channel the raw feelings into art. This started my fascination with emotional healing through art, evolving to what I call “the magic of art” these days.
Digital Illustration Printed on Canvas
9 × 12 inches
2022
Imploded
Alongside Imploded, this piece was created through raw grief. Not only was I grieving Sarah, but I had other people suddenly pass and it was hard to process. Items attached to this piece were given to me from people who are no longer here, or are a reference to a time when I was heavily grieving. The woman’s chest is filled with real rocks to showcase the heaviness of grieving.
Paper Mache with Sentimental Items
12 × 12 × 14 inches
2022
Grief
A remembrance portrait painting created in memory of my friend Sarah. This painting started the foundation for my work with healing from grief and trauma. If you are interested in a remembrance painting for your loved one so that their memory may live on, please click below.
Acrylic on Canvas
16 × 20 inches
2023
Sarah Forever
In a surrealist experiment, I tied my past of equestrian life, my present life of being ill, and my all around love for art and color into one cohesive image. This painting has unfortunately been left unfinished. Perhaps one day it will be picked back up.
Acrylic on Canvas
36 × 48 inches
2023
Living in a Dream
Look to the Stars
Through alternative darkroom processes, I experimented with what I like to call “old fashioned photoshop” where I blended 2 images into one photo. This was in exploration of grief and how I seem to always search the stars for answers. There is a sense of comfort and home when I look at the sky, as if I am gazing at a photograph of an old friend.
Darkroom Print
9 × 11 inches
2023
As an experiment with light theory and paint, I created what I call the emotional rabbit hole. In a single moment, a person can be experiencing multiple emotions at once.
Acrylic on Canvas Illuminated by LED Color Lights
16 × 20 inches
2023
Emotional Rabbit Hole
6 Seconds
This piece represents the 6 seconds of death that I have personally experienced in 2020. The one thing remembered for sure was the overwhelming feeling of peace, and a vivid and vast galaxy. When displayed, there was a projected video with a poem about the experience covering the wall and the piece. You can see the video here.
Acrylic Paint on Laser Cut layers of wood
12 × 24 × 4 inches
2024
While battling with heavy brain fog, I had a small artist block moment and blamed it on the fog. Then it hit me, I need to create about this. In doing so, I created a digital illustration that I then printed using the cyanotype method. The cyanotype blue really makes the emotion come to life.
I also experimented with the unpredictability of the cyanotype process by compiling all of my smaller prints into an gif, which gave a satisfying result, and successfully conveys the unpredictability of chronic illness.
Digital Illustration Printed in Cyanotype on Watercolor Paper
17 × 22 inches
2025
Brain Storm
Brain Box
This was a box originally thrifted from a place that caused me a lot of distress, the place that started my cognitive decline. When I had a stroke in 2017, the damage in my brain was heavily caused by the amount of strain and activity I was experiencing. I was overworked. Over the years I had improved…until recently. My memory had gotten to a point where my quality of life was slipping away, and the wait time for a visit to the neurologist was even further. The meticulous work on this box is a testament to my willpower, showing that even through dark times, there is always light at the end of the tunnel.
Outside: Acrylic Painted and wood burned images
Inside: Screen Printed Digital Illustration
Closed: 9 × 14 × 4 inches
Open: 18 × 28 × 2 inches
2026
I grew up with heavy nosebleeds for as long as I can remember, which followed with a fear of randomly bleeding out. The constant dryness eventually led to a hole in my nose. I attempted to fix the hole and the surgery went horribly wrong—I didn’t think I would make it out alive. During the whole experience, my eyes were opened to just how cruel the medical professionals can be in a time of crisis.
Later in life I was diagnosed with Sjogren’s Syndrome. This is an autoimmune illness that directly affects the way your body hydrates itself. This results in many different eye, nose and mouth problems as well as many other things in the body, and was the direct cause of the nosebleeds for all these years.
I still live with this hole in my nose, and with the ongoing fear of it.
Acrylic Paint on Canvas
24 × 36 inches
2026