Floating Auras No. 1
Chronic Aura Migraines, Alexandra Lyon
“If it's a migraine, I'm like, thank you for sending me a signal. Thank you for sending me a signal that things are off. When I would close my eyes and come into a place of rest without external light, I would have this Kaleidoscope like kind of light show behind my eyes. A lot like orbs of light but they kind of dissolve and then come back as the same thing a few times. Sometimes a lot of yellows and blues. Also some purples and pinks. It was like I was watching and it would make me forget about the pain or it was transforming pain into that light instead. So it's inspired every piece of my work. Every piece of my artwork since growing up as a teen.
I see what I can create with the medium of photography, so I use light and long exposures and different kinds of elements to create something that is non-representational. For me when my eyes are closed, it's actually really joyful to see these colors emerge behind my eyes. So it's this interesting conversation around what we might view as painful and what we might view as like a moment of joy, and how they aren't as far away as opposites as we think.”