City: Metairie

Brain Injury: Fell and hit head while roller-skating, suffering a TBI.  Underwent multiple brain surgeries as a result.

Explanation of Mask: I painted blue for sadness because the pain and suffering is like having the blues.  I chose black; it’s a dark color to represent all the suffering.  It is coming from my eyes; it’s in the middle because that’s where the tears come from.  My brain injury makes me feel overwhelmed and confused.  Silver is to show the confusion “like what the heck happened?”  Pink is for the pain.  Red is for the anger that I feel.  I drew a heart because there’s anger in my heart.  Yellow is for happiness.  I have to change my feelings and be happy sometimes.  I want everyone to know the yellow is how I used to feel.  I was really, really happy before my brain injury.  This mask was painted approximately three months after my initial brain injury, during my last day of inpatient therapy.