Fragmented Flower
Jessica is an artist from Brisbane’s northside whose practice is centred mostly on acrylics, with other materials such as wool and thread often incorporated. Largely self-taught, Jessica has been painting since childhood and has always found creativity to be a vital outlet.
Over the past 26 years, Jessica has lived with an eating disorder that nearly claimed her life at one point. In addition, she has schizoaffective disorder and psychosis brought on by repeated trauma. Despite these challenges, art has become an important form of therapy and release for Jessica.
Outside of painting, she enjoys making jewellery, spending time in nature, and caring for her two guinea pigs. Jessica looks toward the future with optimism and resilience, continuing to create from a place of strength.
I created this artwork as a form of release while going through psychosis and suffering from anorexia. I wanted to create a beautiful fine artwork, but was struggling to paint. I could only play with the paint and ended up creating a flower broken in pieces - reflective of my mind at the time. I was happy with the outcome and love this piece because it shows me you can still create beauty even if it's really hard to do.