Azucar's poem "Healing" is the main inspiration I worked from, below is a short video from the performance as well as the poem itself. DSM LIVE is a fundraiser for a mental health clinic to be opened in NYC by multi-hyphenate creative and licensed therapist Nicole "Azucar" Simone. When she asked me to paint at the event, I had never done a live performance before : Healing it cuts through like frostbite everything is fine at first sitting in your truth a calm breeze traveling around around the body until it picks up speed wisping by the eyes each scarred memory pins needles through the skin each love a goosebump in time each a ray of light bringing moments of hope recharging the soul for the next white crash of wave plunging to your surface a pin a needle a goosebump a pin a needle a goosebump a goosebump a needle a pin a needle a pin a goosebump it's suddenly colder needing a safe harbor to hold her fingertips start to prune nails turn blue crosslegged stuck in each ridge and groove one dungeon after another stranger to the reflection wondering how to ever break the glass and become one peace again breathe a breath of swords peel away a layer like glue on the hand looking the same thinking different covered in pins and needles each second merging into another Picasso to Pollack to abyss of nothingness yet you're containing everything omnipresent waiting for the omniscient breathe a breath of swords and honey peel away a layer like glue on the hand looking the same thinking different foreign heartbeat new language same tongue until the hands find the drum breaking the chains one link at a time one reverb, one reverb at a time until finally swimming because like riding a bike and the eyes like suns after the world's worst hurricane 11/4/2023 ​ ​