Star rating: ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ Additional Comment:
About the Artist
My name is Lauren West Bates and I want to capture beauty however I can.
I’ve been painting since 2017, taking photos since 2016, and drawing since I was a young girl. I love the flexibility and motion that comes with painting, as well as the deep history painting as a medium holds. My favorite artists are Vincent Van Gogh and Frida Kahlo because I deeply admire people who can take the pain that life has given them and still see the beauty in it, paint despite it, and tell their story regardless of who’s listening.
“There are so many out there who struggle with the same or similar issues, but who feel shame to talk about it.”
Artist Statement
Pain has long been a struggle of mine. Having been diagnosed with Persistent Depressive Disorder, Generalized Anxiety, and Panic Disorder, chronic migraines, ongoing whiplash from a long ago wreck, as well as a ten year long struggle to find a diagnosis for formerly unknown abdominal pain– what I know now to be vaginismus– pain has defined a large part of my life. I say this not to play any “I have it worse” card, but rather to say that despite my pain, I must find new ways to continue living. I am not alone in my pain either. There are so many out there who struggle with the same or similar issues, but who feel shame to talk about it–personal shame, societal shame, internalized shame for things that we cannot control and can no longer condemn in others.
I am not always strong enough to speak out about the pain. When I was diagnosed with depression, I was terrified my friends would label me “the sad girl” and push me away. When I heard the word “vaginismus,” I cried heavy tears because I felt like my body was broken and that others would only hear the word and think about sex. My migraines make it impossible to work some days, and anxiety leaves me feeling like an imposter, a fraud.
Not all of my artwork has to do with pain, but it all stems from it. I paint things that are beautiful to sooth the soul, and I paint things that are not beautiful to capture it. And sometimes, I paint things as they are, as I see them, to better understand the soul.
Education
Anderson University, SC
2016 – 2020
Boiling Springs High School, SC
2012 – 2016
Exhibitions
Solo
- Senior Exhibition , Vandiver Gallery, 2020