Chiron
2026, Materials: An A1 sized coloured pencil drawing of the artist’s EMDR private therapy chair. Framed dimensions: 74.3cm x 99cm
Image credit: Theresa Bruno 2026©
I was diagnosed with C-PTSD (Complex Post Traumatic Stress Disorder) in 2024 and in 2026 when I drew the drawing, I was approximately two years into doing EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) trauma therapy. During therapy sessions my therapist used guided side-to-side eye movements to help my brain reprocess stuck, painful memories, essentially rewriting my brain and healing the nervous system. It is a somatic/embodied type of therapy, because trauma is stored not just in the mind, but directly in the nervous system and body tissues as trapped survival energy. I did not anticipate how brutal, physically demanding and all encompassing the process would be, having to put most of my life on hold to support it. Being so physicially and psychologically demanding, it had direct consequences on my emerging art practice, slowing down, taking more sick days, shorter working days, not applying for opportunties, having to cancel a lot, being a lot less productive. I made huge sacrafices in many parts of my life, it became the biggest priority, so in 2026 the only thing that made sense, was to spend 3 months drawing an A1 sized drawing of the private therapy chair.
It is drawn in a naive wonky style which is in keeping with my usual handmade aesthetic, but that wasn’t intentional - its simply how I draw. There is something about the simplicity of it that felt very important to me. The drawing is made up of my usual gaudy colour pallette, which gives the scene a warm welcome. Art historically, trauma has been often depicted as devastating, depictions of psychological fracture, physical vulnerability, and expression of the struggle of giving form to the unspeakable. It was even fashionable most recently to delibrately create work or curate shows that were delibrately triggering. I’m not interested in being associated with that recent movement, thats not what this is about. The therapy process itself has felt intensely triggering and all of the typically depictions of the topic, but when I’m able to access a larger perspective, I have a deep respect and sense of reverence for, and am deeply grateful that I could afford access to, this life-changing tramsformative work. It is a celebration of all the priviledge that I’ve earned and worked hard for, to get to this point in my life.
Trauma is not exclusive to the working class, but growing up in those conditions significantly increases the chances of experiencing trauma early in life. Later in life, the poor health symptoms as a result, can become a barrier to access for working class artists trying to enter the art world. I think its important to highlight and talk about these things. In my 20’s, I built up financial security, buying a home etc. all of which now give me the earned priviledge of having time, energy, space and money to make art. Now in my 30’s I believe I’m doing just as important work - sorting out my body to help build a capable, healthy and sustainable art practice long term. The work symbolises a key stepping stone into acknowledging a shift into a middle class lifestyle. Having previously been in and out of various NHS mental health units, I moved into privately paid therapy. It took many years of integration to justify spending that much money on myself, a type of work that priviledged persons take for granted as normal practice, and so the seat personally symbolises my increased sense of self esteem and value. The fact that I can change the conditions of my life to do this difficult work is another priviledge that I simply didn’t have when I was younger. These are all types of psychological and emotional work that we don’t talk about, but can slow down a working class artists career path. There are many different kinds of extra emotional labour we have to do in order to take up the same amount of space and I hope that my work brings that into light and starts those conversations. Of course, this isn’t going to come across from this one piece of work to everyone, but I’m writing these blurbs to give others a context to how and why these works are made - and illustrate what was going on in my life, what important to me, whilst making them.
When I made the work, I gave myself permission to completely ignore the art canon, to not care about the audience or what the piece will say to the world and instead I focused on the pleasure of being completely absorbed in drawing something for 3 months that had personally deep meaning to me. A common theme in works that I’ve made around this time is breaking through stereotypes, although awareness of the traumasphere was slowly building, there was still a huge lack of awareness and stigma attatched to it. Although not my original intention, making a piece of work so explicitly about it, boldly and casually talking about it, sharing all the research and experience I’ve gained from it, will hopefully continue to raise awareness.
I named the drawing Chiron after the ‘Wounded Healer’ archetype. ...”After being accidentally wounded in the knee or thigh by Heracles' poisoned arrow, Chiron suffered an incurable, agonizing pain. Because he was immortal, he could not die to escape the torment. He ultimately traded his immortality to Zeus to free Prometheus, allowing him to rest and becoming the constellation Sagittarius. This story gave rise to the wounded healer archetype—the idea that one's deepest personal wounds and suffering can be transformed into profound compassion and wisdom to help others.”
It is drawn in a naive wonky style which is in keeping with my usual handmade aesthetic, but that wasn’t intentional - its simply how I draw. There is something about the simplicity of it that felt very important to me. The drawing is made up of my usual gaudy colour pallette, which gives the scene a warm welcome. Art historically, trauma has been often depicted as devastating, depictions of psychological fracture, physical vulnerability, and expression of the struggle of giving form to the unspeakable. It was even fashionable most recently to delibrately create work or curate shows that were delibrately triggering. I’m not interested in being associated with that recent movement, thats not what this is about. The therapy process itself has felt intensely triggering and all of the typically depictions of the topic, but when I’m able to access a larger perspective, I have a deep respect and sense of reverence for, and am deeply grateful that I could afford access to, this life-changing tramsformative work. It is a celebration of all the priviledge that I’ve earned and worked hard for, to get to this point in my life.
Trauma is not exclusive to the working class, but growing up in those conditions significantly increases the chances of experiencing trauma early in life. Later in life, the poor health symptoms as a result, can become a barrier to access for working class artists trying to enter the art world. I think its important to highlight and talk about these things. In my 20’s, I built up financial security, buying a home etc. all of which now give me the earned priviledge of having time, energy, space and money to make art. Now in my 30’s I believe I’m doing just as important work - sorting out my body to help build a capable, healthy and sustainable art practice long term. The work symbolises a key stepping stone into acknowledging a shift into a middle class lifestyle. Having previously been in and out of various NHS mental health units, I moved into privately paid therapy. It took many years of integration to justify spending that much money on myself, a type of work that priviledged persons take for granted as normal practice, and so the seat personally symbolises my increased sense of self esteem and value. The fact that I can change the conditions of my life to do this difficult work is another priviledge that I simply didn’t have when I was younger. These are all types of psychological and emotional work that we don’t talk about, but can slow down a working class artists career path. There are many different kinds of extra emotional labour we have to do in order to take up the same amount of space and I hope that my work brings that into light and starts those conversations. Of course, this isn’t going to come across from this one piece of work to everyone, but I’m writing these blurbs to give others a context to how and why these works are made - and illustrate what was going on in my life, what important to me, whilst making them.
When I made the work, I gave myself permission to completely ignore the art canon, to not care about the audience or what the piece will say to the world and instead I focused on the pleasure of being completely absorbed in drawing something for 3 months that had personally deep meaning to me. A common theme in works that I’ve made around this time is breaking through stereotypes, although awareness of the traumasphere was slowly building, there was still a huge lack of awareness and stigma attatched to it. Although not my original intention, making a piece of work so explicitly about it, boldly and casually talking about it, sharing all the research and experience I’ve gained from it, will hopefully continue to raise awareness.
I named the drawing Chiron after the ‘Wounded Healer’ archetype. ...”After being accidentally wounded in the knee or thigh by Heracles' poisoned arrow, Chiron suffered an incurable, agonizing pain. Because he was immortal, he could not die to escape the torment. He ultimately traded his immortality to Zeus to free Prometheus, allowing him to rest and becoming the constellation Sagittarius. This story gave rise to the wounded healer archetype—the idea that one's deepest personal wounds and suffering can be transformed into profound compassion and wisdom to help others.”