My name is Mariam and I am an artist and painter. My artistic interests are constantly morphing as I like to experiment with traditional oil painting and modern mixed media techniques. I enjoy doing graphic design and digital art, as well as working on varying projects such as web site design, videography, and stop-motion animation. My paintings and other works have been exhibited internationally and are in numerous private collections. I am also a member of the Association of Mouth and Foot Painting Artists. A few times a year I exhibit locally. Lately I have been painting obsessively in my home studio in the western suburbs of Chicago. I continue to divide my artistic output between figurative, abstract, and semi-abstract modes.
People ask me how I started painting with my mouth... The answer is, I've been making art in some form or another my whole life. I have been drawing and painting since I was a little girl and have focused on art all through school. When I was 20 I became the victim of gun violence. I was shot in the back by an unknown assailant while driving a friend's car. It was an all-too-real example of being in the wrong place at the wrong time. I sustained a C5/C6 spinal cord injury that left me quadriplegic, and to say the least, my life changed forever. The injury left me with impaired function in my hands and permanantly unable to walk. I had a 5 month long rehabilitation process during which I had to relearn to do many of the normal everyday things I had previously taken for granted. Painting thankfully was one of those things I discovered that I could still do, even if in a different way.
Directly after my injury I couldn't use my hands very well. Instead of struggling to do certain tasks like writing my name or drawing a picture with my hands (where I had to use adaptive cuffs to grip the pencil in order to write), I simply began to put the pencil or pen (and later paint brushes) directly into my mouth as a shortcut. And as it turned out, I felt I had more control that way. And I began to practice daily.
The new way in which I was painting with my mouth was very different from what I was formerly taught to do with my hands in art classes. I could utilize some of the same techniques but there was a lot that was different from a physical standpoint. There wasn't much written on the art of mouth painting nor people I could look to for instruction back then, so that made learning to paint with my mouth a bit experimental and difficult at first. I taught myself through trial and error and incorporated my previous artistic knowledge when I could. I did many things the hard way before I even figured out there was a 'hard way', but all those challenges were worth it in the long run. Because being able to paint again gave me new purpose in my life which I very much needed at that time.
Fourteen years later I am still painting and creating art. And it's amazing to think now how painting with my mouth is like second nature for me. I have broadened my idea of what I thought was possible for myself. I am no longer limited by my physical capabilities and have even begun to make art with other people and 'through' people to bring my creative ideas to life.
I still feel that I am, and always will be a student of art, and of the world. I am very happy being an Artist and I hope to be forever searching and unwilling to deny my curiosity.
Mariam
