DVAA Member since 2023
Lauren Trainer
About:
As an artist and explorer, Lauren is fascinated by how much art can teach us about ourselves. Her recent works take inspiration from her experiences in art therapy, trauma therapy, sex work, and efforts obtaining her degrees. By examining her personal journey in restoring pleasure and safety into her life, she attempts to embrace her vulnerability, transform destructive experiences into creative and healing ones, and learn how to achieve balance through groundedness. These healing expressions encompass her struggles with undiagnosed neurodivergence, ADHD, sexual violence and CPTSD. Lauren dreams of creating a safe space for all victims of abuse. That they too can find expression and a voice through engaging with her artwork and their own. Be it through drawing, painting, photography, costume, dance or installation, her endeavors to exhibit her art in an impactful way remain the same. Advocacy for a brighter and safer future sits at the forefront of her work, and she holds gratitude for those who consent to be her witness as she reclaims her body, her creativity and her voice.
Artist Statement:
My multidisciplinary approach to art is fueled by my excitement about the informative surprises offered through engaging with a variety of sensory stimuli such as physical textures. The unique ways in which each medium I use can reveal an underlying pattern with biopsychosocial influences or internal connection that can teach me more about how I have been storing or processing a memory or emotional response. While deeply entranced by my studies in neuroscience, clinical psychology and foreign languages, I was deeply distracted from all that I needed to heal from. It wasn’t until after I married the love of my life and started to untether from a life in survival mode where I was then victimized and re-traumatized by two new isolated incidents of sexual violence. The height of not being able to make sense of anything became my turning point for being able to start listening to the senses I had been raised to ignore. I aim to allow myself space to process both my distraught feelings and gratitude for disillusionments after a fraught childhood and adult life. In light of this, transparency and authenticity are essential for me. With my art, I am exposing the truths of my reality. With my art, I am not masking. With my art, the parts of me that can’t speak in any other way get to be free and therefore, so do I. By physically bringing my art to life to help unlock parts of me that have been silenced or non-verbal, I practice overcoming severe imposter syndrome. The agency I have been able to feel as a result brings tears to my eyes while the safety I'm building brings peace. Each piece of art that I create is organic evidence of my growth that I can feel and remember, serving as part of a tangible timeline which helps to ground me as I heal in an all but linear fashion. When my process invites acknowledgement and embodiment of my experiences, I can find clarity and closure so that I may continue to find myself. My art is what healing looks like for me and I seek to continue to grow so that I may also help and inspire others to discover what healing looks like for them.
