This was taken of me at the Never in My Wildest Dreams... group exhibition. It’s a painting I did when I was a teenager. These past few months have been stressful living with depression and anxiety in a colonial state. The week of the exhibition was particularly stressful. I had a complete meltdown. Was in tears for four days straight. Finally, I went to my Dad’s place, sat where Mum used to sit and cried. Then I went out to the back shed looking for something to hurt myself with. What I found was this painting mounted to the wall in Dad’s shed. And it snapped me out of my haze of pain. I took it down and started to patch it up. I tried to remember 16 year old Sian. I told myself that I wouldn’t have hurt 16 year old Sian and she still lives inside of me, so I wouldn’t hurt myself now. Art saves lives, no two ways about it. I am proud of the work Stacy and all of the artists did for the NIMWD show. Never in my wildest dreams would I have thought I’d be sharing this story with you all. Thank you for listening 🖤
Photo by Marice Byers
