Nadeen Brown

I am not the person I once was, I grieved her; yet I am free of her. I see beauty in life and when I physically cannot see the beauty, I create it, to view for myself.

---

Artist Statement

I believe with these collections you can see the progression of my mental health and my physical health, learning about my conditions and how they have shifted my awareness within the outside world but also inner awareness.

I use felt tip pens and slowly build up the body of work. My artwork is done in black and white as symbolism of light and colour sensitivity – and light always comes out of darkness.

I am not the person I once was, I grieved her; yet I am free of her. I see beauty in life and when I physically cannot see the beauty, I create it, to view for myself.

What you unfortunately don’t see is the symptoms whilst creating. The dizzy spells, my eyes loosing focus and tracking slower as my cognitive functions lower, you don’t see me fighting with my hand that is having tics, nor do you see the seizures after creating.

You don’t see the tears, the immense low moments and the burning fire pain that consumes my being.

You also do not see the stigma attached to Functional Neurological Disorder (FND). The medical fields lack of empathy or a clear care plan moving forward, I have been left to deal with it alone. Being thrown out of emergency with words of “there is nothing wrong with you”. And the societal stigma relating to FND, that it’s conversion and I am just bat shit crazy. I understand I’m a bit crazy because of life events, however FND is a very real physically debilitating disorder and we all need your understanding and empathy.

 I’m Sick AF and immensely tired.

^ top

---

Art was a safe space for me and my mind would go off to other worlds. It comforted me when my environment couldn’t.

Biography

I am a person who lives with multiple disabilities, one from birth. I’ve always been fascinated with the world around me, but I struggle to make sense of my life experiences. The only way I’ve learnt to process events, is via art. I struggle to speak about my experiences, but I speak through Art.

It started young, I heavily used art within my childhood as a means to dissociate from school yard bullying, neglect physical and sexual abuse at home; I just drew. It was a safe space for me and my mind would go off to other worlds. It comforted me when my environment couldn’t. It was a safe space.

I live with Cptsd, lower limb defect, BPD, Scoliosis, and in 2022 an immensely aggressive onset of Functional Neurological Disorder and Dysautonomia. I had eight weeks of Outpatient Rehab. My symptoms were Tremor, Gait Issues, Dizziness, Seizures, Drop Attacks, Fatigue, Nerve Pain, Dystonia, Tics, Involuntary Movements the list is long.

I completed rehab, however I feel that drawing had big impacts of my recovery journey. I would draw one line then fall into attacks, one line over months became ten minutes of drawing, I do believe having that neural pathway that’s always been strong has helped.

Alas I am still disabled, house bound but I’m glad I still get to create art. My eyes lag behind, my hand shakes but yet I still create, because I must; but I am tired.

^ top

---

Connect

Instagram: @lightprintsindarkness
Facebook: Light Prints in Darkness
Red Bubble: redbubble.com/people/SweetAnarkhy/shop

^ top

---

^ top

---

Artwork

I completed rehab, however I feel that drawing had big impacts of my recovery journey. I would draw one line then fall into attacks, one line over months became ten minutes of drawing, I do believe having that neural pathway that’s always been strong has helped.

^ top