Pain, it's a universal hazard of life, but subjective in its experience. I have lived with chronic pain since I was a teenager due to an incurable autoimmune disease. I have faced many challenges with it, but have overcome and thrived. I love to travel, I love trying new foods, I love to exercise and practice yoga, and go on adventures with my dogs. I've never let it stop me..... 

 

.....Until it did. 

 

Trapped in a body wracked with excruciating pain, seizures and paralysis I spent a month at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. I needed a way to cope with the whole experience and I turned to my art and let it speak for me.

This self-portrait series was and continues to be a cathartic process that highlights the struggles and the triumphs. It is a very vulnerable picture of my personal medical crisis and is meant to evoke deep emotion and I hope you find it touches you too.

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