With all that trauma I’ve turned it into visual art

I grew up in Baltimore, Maryland now I live on the West Coast in LA. By the time I was a senior in public school, that was my 10th public school I went to. My parents moved around a lot. My upbringing is the most interesting, I should say. My mother joined a cult when I was young, when I was 9, and we were in the cult for about 9 years. We escaped that and went back to Baltimore, Maryland from Montana. That is where the cult was based.

With all that trauma, I’ve turned it into visual art. I’m a visual artist, I’m a painter. Now I deal with the world with a little bit of a distance but as a painter. I handle all that stress and anxiety and all the trauma I’ve been through in my past into my painting, which is what I love to do. It’s forced me to find an outlet to find something that I could funnel those frustration, the bad, bad world out there, into something good and positive, good for everyone and not have a negative impact whatsoever.

My mother made me an elephant. We weren’t well off or anything. She couldn’t afford one so she stitched an elephant. It’s name was Ellie. It had a similar texture and feel to it and it had a little pocket in the front so I would keep little notes and secrets in the little pocket of the elephant. I had him when I was pretty young. It was about half my size. It was a pretty big plush animal. It accompanied me every night and kept me safe.