From my course in social work I had learned why art therapy is important: trauma resides in the part of the brain often inaccessible to speech. That's why it can seem a bit ineffable, why something can follow you around despite 'talking it out.' I made this art piece of salt type prints during a turbulent time for my hometown. 

While I may not have been directly impacted, I still had a hard time processing what could've happened and feared what may be next. Making this installation allowed me to express my feelings, even if just to myself. During the span of a few months Stark County, Ohio experienced what the CDC investigated as "a suicide epidemic."

In this time, there was also an attempted school shooting at my brother's middle school, thwarted just before anybody else got hurt. While we were lucky, it was numbing knowing that during this time in America such news reports are not uncommon nor particularly unexpected. I just never imagined shaking in class, having received word that there is an active shooter in my brother's school and they're in lock down and not knowing what's happening.