Nothing to Celebrate Series (2019-ongoing)

Using birthdays as a marker of passing time, I seek to visualize the repetative thoughts of unresolved trauma. Sometimes we develop unhealthy coping mechanisms to sooth those thoughts. It can really take a toll on your self-esteem when you are compared to others or when you are comparing yourself with others. It is a performance to keep up an expected way of living for others and it has taken me years to break this pattern of thinking that this societal expectation is okay. Add in trauma of an inner child that was always the scapegoat, and it is curious to see where that leads. For me, the pressures of these expectations and long upheld trauma resulted in depression and anxiety. It is not an end. We are the main characters in this big play and we get to choose exactly where our story leads us.