Concussed: Reach

pencils and erasing on paper

H: 12"

W: 9"

Concussed

On February 20 2014 , an instant in time changed my life.  While sitting in my car in a parking lot I was hit very hard from behind, and my car went forward and wrapped around a column.  At the moment of impact my head was turned to the left as I was putting on my seat belt.  My keys were not yet in the ignition.  The positioning of my head and the contre coup concussion ( my brain going back and forth hitting the skull ) resulted in an ABI ( acquired brain injury ) that I still struggle with six years later.

About a year after the accident I began a series of drawings.  I approached them in a similar way to ink drawings that were always a part of my work but I used pencil instead.  Each drawing was done in one sitting and captured a moment in time.  For me they had journal like quality as they were a snapshot of a day.  

As I began to see them as a group I was struck by how fuzzy they were ( my other drawings always had a crisp quality to them ).  The fuzziness  really reflected the fogginess that I had in my head as a result of the brain injury.  I was not trying to make fuzzy drawing but no matter what I did they all had this foggy quality to them.  It was fascinating to look on them as a group and see the images as a reflection of the state of my head.

I like these drawing.  They remind me of the journey of my recovery, and my struggle at times just to get through a day.