Inspiration for the piece:

I wanted this piece to show that being born innocent without knowing what evil is. After getting older and as you start making life choices and how they lead down the wrong path. I wanted people to have that A HA moment when they see my emotions on paper, after being suppressed for years by feeling alone and too ashamed to realize there was others like me. The poem is explaining my journey after defeating my demons, after a life full of pain. And finding the feeling of wanting to go home after finding a piece of my innocence and making peace with my pain.

What role does art play in your life?

Art gives me an outlet for my pain, happy, confused & all my emotions trying to reach out to connect with others, forming an undeniable bond when others realize they're not alone. So they don't have to hide or be ashamed of anything. My art shows that in the person I am after, through all the ups and downs of life . . .I'm still standing!!

Artist statement:

I was a twin boy in a middle class family with an alcoholic father and a supportive mother. Being twin boys, we couldn't be any more opposite. While we were young until getting older and weirdly feel each other no matter where we were at apart. My father died in my arms in 2010, then in 2014 my twin brother committed suicide because he was full of cancer and didn't want his little boy to watch him suffer. In 2021, my mother passed away in a hospital after they completely stopped feeding and giving her water after 3 weeks, stealing her from me and creating so mych anomosity, pain, fear and the feeling of being alone. I've done my share of soul searching and coming to terms with issues and now I want to show my emotions to others and make them realize they're not alone, or to feel a part of something bigger in the world, either in mind, body and soul. And after 53 years I've finally wanted to open myself for others to see me rather than blame me.