"I See You, I Get You, I Love You"

10 x 10 inches

The JOY series, by Jessica Joy Trusty

Artist’s statement:

Over the past year, I struggled due to health issues and anxiety. Feeling frozen, lost, and unwell, I saw several doctors, and unfortunately found little improvement. Taking walks in the forest became a healing balm for my ailments. While walking, I kept ‘Trust & Joy’ in my mind, finding it interesting that my birth name became my mantra. I focused on JOY walk after walk. It took time, but each day, I walked further. The simplicity of being under the sun, in the trees, next to the stream, lying in the grass and sitting on the rocks with mountain peaks in the distance–nothing but my own presence in nature– I began to recover a part of myself that had been damaged. I began to see my physical symptoms as a message. I viewed the symptoms as a white flag, my body and my mind asking me to stop, surrender, listen to my instincts. This was the beginning of my symptoms improving. The message was not to “DO” but rather to *be with* the symptoms, and to surrender. Not to fight, rid, or temporarily anesthetize the pain, but to acknowledge it. While I am grateful for and have the deepest respect for western medicine, I also see that we, as a society, have created every distraction humanly possible to trick ourselves out of feeling pain. These distractions can leave us none the wiser to the message it serves. I came to see my symptoms as messengers. This new view set me on the path to my healing. 

In my art, the beautiful tigers, owls, eagles, warriors, maidens, ancestors, healers, flowers, and swans are also messengers. Lion emulates courage and Bear begets strength when one observes quietly. 

The guides in my paintings are symbolic of the parts of ourselves calling us to slow down in order to hear the wisdom we already have within all of us. 

Thank you for viewing my work, which also happens to be my passion. 

J ust
O observe
Y ourself (in nature) 

Jessica Joy Trusty