This is about my past. It represents how I feel. I feel scared. The tears show my sadness. The lips on my mask represent beauty while the eyebrows show anger.
The tears also show my sadness about my sister because she is going to have heart surgery.

To me it means how I got hurt in many ways – so I did my mask this way.

When I look at this mask I see tears of beauty.

This soul is sad because it’s been hurt and abused by people. It’s shy to get out; it couldn’t because it was too afraid.

Stay out of the mix. Chose right.

This little mask is about my cousin beating me up. He abused me by grabbing me by my neck and hitting me against the wall. The scraped side is where I got hurt and the other side is my sad side.

Keep you head up, always.

Father’s rapes night after night
Mother’s beats day after day
I scream with a fright
And to the Lord I pray

Broken home, broken home
Be fixed today

Tears tell me that this girl is sad. The star represents the specialness she still has.

This mask represents a girl that is hurt. Her boyfriend hurt her and she wants him to know how much pain she has.

I sense the pain in the heart.
But everything will be all right.
I’ll show strength by leaving everything in the past in this one mask.

Life can be two different shades.
You can stare at them both at the same time while living them. But the choice is yours on which one you ponder.

This face shows how a person has to be in order to survive. You have to show a smile always. But never show your tears to anyone.

This is a mask of a girl who is free from abuse.

The lighter color means I feel calm.
The darker color means I am feeling crazy – like out of control, like I can’t take whatever is happening any more.
The color on the lips mean the colors on the outside show how I’m acting. The color on the inside shows how I’m feeling inside.
The dots under the nose mean the way of me feeling as if I can’t breathe!

Relax, open your eyes, and then you will realize how good it feels to heal and be happy again. Remember, time is too valuable to waste on something negative.

She went through violence as a child.
It kept happening and she felt as though it would never stop.
She was rooted to the ground.
Her father and sister helped her.
Soon they left.
The roots grew even longer, she couldn’t get away.
She had hope that she’d be free.
She got help.
She is now free.
Lines = roots
Strings = roots rising out and the girl being free
Face = crying and screaming with anger

The happy side of the abuser is the kind of guy that laughs all the time. He had a good sense of humor.
The demon or bad side of the abuser was dark and cold blooded.

Sometimes I’m feeling like a rock star with diamonds and glitter and then I’m heart broken and I feel blue and want to cry.

My days with my mom’s abuser I heard yelling and shouting, feeling like it’s my responsibility for what has been done. But now here I am creating and chatting with friends. So in the end everything turned out to be all right.

This mask is meant to be the “mask” that people put up. It is meant to be expressionless to hide all the feelings behind it. I leave it up to the viewer to decide what feelings they think it is hiding. It is the mask of a true warrior, those who hide their feelings from others.

This man is really a child inside, he refuses to grow up and everyone has this child. So when they look at my mask I want that child to come and express themselves.

Art is a way you can express yourself without words. You can draw, paint, or etc. to show your feelings.

We face terror everyday.
The love that’s gone we mourn.
The violence, abuse and hatred we experience.
Terror stains our eyes, our faces wear out because of it.

The wrinkles and cracks on the face represent age, experience and the lasting scars and bruises from childhood trauma. The face is serious and deep in thought. There is a look of sadness in the face, signified by the narrow eyes and shape of the eyebrows. Acutely aware of the ugly things in this world. The man behind the mask contemplates his fate and seeks wisdom in the fight against abuse and domestic violence.

The happiness of life brings joy 2 my face.

My uncle loves us so much that he would come to visit and we would literally run and hide. I wanted him to leave my mother alone. I wanted him to say what it was he wanted from us. Why did he attack us, they had it all and we didn’t, why?

Times I had that were hard.

I wish he had been a better dad and that he didn’t beat her and that he didn’t smoke or drink. I wish he had hugged me.

My Faces are sad and angry, mad, and frustrated.

I was 6, 7 or 8 – I really don’t know. They were young teens, older than me and my brother. We were playing then the rest is cloudy but what they did to me and my brother was wrong. It is deep in my brain and it is hard to come out, but it is there and it is time to get rid of it.

Faith, hope and love lead to perspective as we move through our journey in life.