“I have been drawing since I was 8 years old. Before that- because we didn’t have that many toys in the house, I used to take the cotton from inside the pillows and aluminum foil and create these figures of characters I would see on TV shows that I’d want the toy of but could never afford. So those were my toys. So then later I started drawing and fell in love with that at an early age.
What art means to me is that it’s a universal thing. Everything is art and anything that is expressed with emotion at some level is art. Without emotion I think it couldn’t be art, it’s just something you’re doing. So… pain really helps that. Pain helps a lot. It gives you motivation. You take your deepest fears or a bad experience or trauma and you mutate it to a point where its like- creative. And it tells a story and its poetic.
When I first came here, it was like I was at home, like- where have you been all my life?! But when you are at home- you have all your other things you have to worry about, your other responsibilities, schoolwork, jobs, family problems, and all that kind of stuff. Once I came here it was like stepping into another realm or something. You can come here and be yourself. You can be an artist. It feels good. It feels really good to come here.”