Why I Make Art

I’m Erika. I make art because it’s the only place I don’t have to hold everything together.

Most of my work begins when something feels too heavy to carry or too quiet to name. When my thoughts are battling or too jumbled up to allow the space to just breathe. I use hand-drawn sketches and acrylic paint to release what I can’t explain, to sit with emotions instead of burying them. I don’t plan my pieces. I let them happen the way feelings do, uneven, layered, and sometimes unresolved.

Art is how I process loss, growth, exhaustion, healing, and the in-between spaces no one talks about. I leave imperfections visible on purpose. The rough lines, the texture, the pauses, they’re honest. They’re proof that something moved through me and found a place to land.

No two pieces are the same because no moment of healing ever is. Some works are quiet. Some are heavy. All of them are real. I create so I can breathe again, and I share them in case they help someone else feel seen, grounded, or less alone.

Thank you so much for being here. Thank you for holding space for my work. I hope this inspires you to do the same.