Artist Statement

An aircraft accident in 2000 left me with spinal cord injuries, Central Pain, and an entirely different way of experiencing life. Intractable pain is a brutal master that demands your attention to even the smallest of details. "Divided Soul" expresses the dilemma that every chronic and intractable pain patient is forced to deal with: the socially acceptable face we present in public and the private horror going on inside, behind the smile. The scarred trunk is a nod to some devastating conditions I share with thousands of others -- Adhesive Arachnoiditis and Cauda Equina Syndrome.