Tyliah Dixon

“Healing Me” is about healing the unresolved pain that I have harbored for a long time. For as long as I can remember I have always internalized negative emotions, which has caused an imbalance within myself. On the outside, I am okay and happy but when life slows down and I have time to really think, all those negative feelings and hurtful and painful moments crash over me like a raging storm. As I grew older, it began to self-reflect on how I handle situations and how they affected my emotional state of being. I understand that I may not be able to control what happens in life, but I can control if I let the negative feelings fester or not. I can control if I heal and move forward.

My work focuses on the embodiment of my emotions. Taking it from an intangible state to a physical state. When I sit down and meditate and focus on what I am thinking and feeling, I begin to visualize what they look like. From the colors to the imagery itself, every aspect of my paintings are representations of these moments. Reading Barbara Ganim’s “Art and Healing” gave me insight into using art to heal and how to do it. The book made the meditative process easy; it took me step by step to ensure that I was able to focus on the mental images that were procuring during each lesson.