First Friday Artwalk

My name is Matthew Brookens. I work as a therapist at White Bird Clinic, which is important to name because my artwork reflects the internal work that has allowed me to give, support, and compassionately witness every day. Each piece in this body of work is a reflection of my consciousness and my journey towards internal peace, healing, existential meaning, and the abundance in existence squirreled away only to be found under our toes by shifting how we perceive life. When I was younger, I experienced a really severe head trauma which put me into a coma for two days. And, when I awoke, my consciousness had changed. Assumptions about myself, identity, connection, love, all shifted beneath my feet or were completely destroyed. Try as I might to talk about these blossoming thoughts, I didn't have anyone in my life that could connect with or understand to the point that I unconsciously learned that it wasn't ok or safe for me to share my internal world. Art became a language in which I could communicate my internal and truest self through intuition, feeling, expression, and symbolism when I could not yet find the words. One symbol that you will find in my work are little homesteads amongst whimsical and colorful landscapes. This symbol reflects my relationship to the spiritual, psychological, and material contemplation of home. There is the space in which we reside, build, live, and grow roots. And, there is also a contemplation of home which we create within our minds and hearts to help us face, endure, and grow within the grief that life may bring. I will leave it to you to interpret what else you find in my work, and I sincerely hope that you enjoy these glimpses into the home that I have created within myself.