Throughout our lives, we are subject to a series of trials, tribulations, and emotionally taxing events that can make or break us. Life isn’t always easy and it’s certainly not always fair, which is why human beings are constantly looking for outlets that can help them make sense of the hardship.
That’s probably why since the beginning of mankind, art can be found on the walls of caves, in an effort for humans to so desperately communicate their feelings, hopes, and fears. These paintings and pictures embodied the human spirit, and they embody it still today: we are highly emotional beings that need to be able to express our feelings, whether through talking, singing, making, building, or drawing.
Natural, Soul-Based Expression
Focusing in artistic expression has many benefits when it comes to past trauma. For starters, it takes a person’s mind off of negative emotions and in addition, enables that person to express themselves along the way. Sometimes, when the darkest experiences in the world come to light, words can’t do the emotional trauma justice. By drawing, it helps the person to put their feelings into a physical, viewable object that can be beheld by others. We all want to be understood.
Additionally, drawing does something else amazing: it allows you to release stress, sadness, and anger, and transform it into something else. By sitting down and allowing creativity to be your stress outlet, you will be able to:
- Process out everything you are feeling in a healthy and productive way
- Create art that you can gift to friends, keep, and use to remind yourself how strong and resilient you are
- Create a new kind of art that inspires future artists and creators to mimic your style
No one understands this process better – or more thoroughly – than Samantha Messias: an award-winning hyper-realistic pencil artist who is known for ‘intensifying reality by enhancing the tiniest of details.’ Upon first glance, Samantha’s drawings appear to be photographs captured with astounding clarity, a testament to her attention to detail and love of her craft.
The Embodiment of Trials and Tribulations
But for Samantha, her drawings are more than just that: they are physical representations of the hardships and abuse she has survived. Developing a knack for artistry at a young age to cope with the physical and sexual abuse, as well as neglect that befell Samantha, she has championed artistic expression as a way to work through PTSD, depression, anxiety, and suicidal thoughts.
She wants everyone who has endured similar hardships to know that something as ephemeral and beautiful as art can be their escape. As she likes to say, ‘her drawings have developed through turning something dark into something light.’ For Samantha, it’s pencil drawings; but for others, it can be painting, constructing, inventing, or anything that resonates with your soul.
Samantha is working hard today to share the uncomfortable details of her life-long abuse, so that other people feel empowered to break free from their emotional chains.
For more information, or to work with Samantha, visit: https://www.samanthamessiasart.com/.