Paraesthesia is an evocative mixed media head sculpture created with thousands of needles and beads, as part of the ongoing series Giving Shape to Pain, which explores the hidden and often misunderstood symptoms of chronic illness — particularly Lyme disease and Lupus.

Most people have experienced paraesthesia — that tingling, prickling sensation known as "pins and needles" when pressure cuts off circulation. But for those living with chronic conditions, this sensation becomes a persistent and often debilitating companion.

In this sculpture, thousands s of pins and beads are embedded into the form of a human head — a symbol of the mind navigating constant neurological disturbance. The work gives visible shape to invisible suffering, representing both the physical sensation and the psychological toll of chronic paraesthesia. Like all works in the series, it becomes a portrait not of a person, but of an experience — one that demands to be seen, felt, and understood.

Medium: Needles, beads, foam, acrylic paint, and mixed materials

Size: 10.5” x 8” x 8.5”

Certificate of authenticity included

From the series: Giving Shape to Pain

Threshold is a powerful new addition to the ongoing series Giving Shape to Pain. This sculptural head of a woman, constructed from thousands of sharp needles and pearl beads, captures the paradox of medical hyperesthesia—a condition marked by extreme sensitivity to touch, temperature, or sensation, commonly experienced by those living with Lyme disease.

For the artist, ordinary physical contact can trigger overwhelming pain. In Threshold, this invisible neurological reality is made visible. The needles evoke the relentless, stabbing intensity of hyper-awareness, while the pearls signal fragility, vulnerability, and the complex beauty embedded in survival.

This sculpture is not only a portrait of a body in conflict, but a tactile and visual translation of the unseen. Like others in the Giving Shape to Pain series, Threshold exists at the intersection of advocacy and embodiment. It challenges viewers to look beyond surface and aesthetics—to witness the inner terrain of chronic illness.

By externalizing the internal, Threshold becomes a map of sensation, a site of resistance, and an invitation to deeper empathy.

Medium: Needles, pearl beads, acrylic paint, foam, and mixed materials
Size: 10.5” x 8” x 8.5”
Signed original | Certificate of authenticity included
From the series: Giving Shape to Pain

Allodynia is a one-of-a-kind head sculpture composed of thousands of needles and beads. It is part of Giving Shape to Pain, a series exploring the invisible and often misunderstood symptoms of chronic illness — particularly the altered sensations caused by Lyme disease and Lupus.

The sculpture embodies the condition “allodynia,” where even the lightest touch can trigger pain. By using sharp, medical materials to build a soft human form, the artist invites viewers to physically sense what is usually invisible. ALLODYNIA transforms private, internal experiences into visible, tangible presence — evoking empathy, reflection, and the need for deeper understanding.

Medium: Needles, beads, foam, acrylic paint, and mixed materials

Size: 11” x 9” x 9.5”

Certificate of authenticity included

From the series: Giving Shape to Pain

“Rêver Mieux" is a semi-figurative mixed media artwork, created live, and inspired by a series of poems that delighted the artist’s ears during a literary event.

The artwork gives visual form to the invisible — the pain, resilience, and quiet hope carried by those living with chronic illness.

Through layered textures, muted tones, and suggestive contours of the human form, the work evokes a dream of days when the body is light, the pain has softened, and others finally begin to see what was once hidden. It is a meditation on hope, on being seen, and on the empathy that blossoms when the unseen becomes visible.

This piece is part of an ongoing exploration of the artist’s lived experience with chronic, invisible conditions. It offers not just an aesthetic gesture, but an invitation: to slow down, to feel deeply, and to imagine better days — together.

Medium: Mixed media on canvas

Size: 24 x 36 inches

Signed on back

Certificate of authenticity included

Unframed

"Floating" is a new mixed media semi-figurative painting, part of a new series of artworks, named "3L", which explores the reality of living with Lupus and Lyme, showcasing invisible symptoms of these illnesses.

Floating describes the feeling of "floating through life", or the present feeling of immunity or disconnect from all of life's meaning, purpose, reason, values and experiences while maintaining normal life functions and activities.

While being touched by a chronic illness, you often experience feelings of isolation, worthlessness, self pity, failure, estrangement which tend to overwhelm a person's thought process.

Your reality appears to be surreal or dream like, as it has nothing to do with the normal life you had before falling sick.

This cognitive distortion seems somehow to be linked with the treatment's effectiveness, as it feels more intense during a flare up and worsen during a herxheimer reaction.

Medium: Mixed media on canvas

Size: 24 x 36 inches

Signed on back

Certificate of authenticity included

Unframed