What I learned about art from breaking my wrist

I broke my wrist in February, just as the covid virus was surfacing. For the first two months, I was in a strange shock, a combination of acceptance and determination. Feeling as if I was on a forced march, putting one foot in front of the other. Finding a surgeon. Waiting for surgery. Having surgery. Spending the first post-surgery week in a fog of pain. Starting rehab. Doing my rehab exercises. Slowly learning that rehab was going to be a full-time job, probably for months.

But in addition to the situation being difficult and painful, it turned out to be a really interesting thing to focus on for such a long period of time.  

One of the many things I learned: Much of the motor wiring in the brain controls our hands. That is, an enormous amount of our brain capacity is dedicated to hand movement and sensation. And therefore, that art as well, — depending on this connection between brain and hand — lives in a huge part of our brain.

The all-important connection between brain and hand can be injured physically (as in a wrist fracture) — or metaphorically (due to the body/mind separation in our culture). When the connections are broken, it can cause us profound disorientation. 

Healing from a wrist fracture is difficult. As is creating art. Day after day during the therapy, I discovered ways in which this process of reconnection worked both ways. The art helped me heal my wrist and working on my wrist helped me deepen my connection to my art.

These images were created after six months of wrist rehab.