Name: Amber T., 24 years old

City: Tempe, AZ

Brain Injury: CONCUSSION and PTSD. Due to childhood PTSD I froze, when what seemed to be a nightmare was a reality. As a child I was backed into bathroom corners before being hit, then one day a woman who did not know me, assaulted me by hitting me on the back of the head leading to a concussion that took a good year of my life if not more. My concussion was more than a headache but also vertigo, short term memory loss, over the top of emotions/feelings, beyond depression and anxiety

Explanation of mask:  My mask wears a mask because even though I could not help but show anger, annoyance, PTSD, being overwhelmed or forgetfulness, I used those feelings to mask my true feelings. These deeper feelings made me more vulnerable than I already felt, where anger masked irritation with the police that were supposed to help me but didn’t believe me.

The mask represents how worried and scared I was from the symptoms, such as puking from vertigo. Every different color on the mask is disproportioned and all over just like my emotions were. The feather is the marking of strength and bravery it took to get through the trauma and battles in court. The mask covering the mask, when removed shows two different views, with the right presenting multiple tears I would shed on the inside but still try to be “strong”. So much goes into the mask the beyond what room I have to tell.