Title: “Own Worst Enemy”
Artist: Travis L. Martin
Medium: Photography, pastel, computer graphics
Size: 6″ X 9″
Notes: “Battling the invisible wounds of war, veterans often try to convince themselves that “it’s all in their head,” that if one could simply affect a paradigm shift, it would all go away. This self-portrait depicts my own struggle with that rationale, that point in which the veteran looks in the mirror, wondering why the person staring back at him or her won’t yield to the healing. It was, in my experience, a daily conversation, one that pit healing against feeling, as if they were mutually exclusive.”