I've never done anything quite like this
for so it's completely out of my comfort
zone I don't want to create a portrait
where she sees herself as like ugly or
different it's not a part of my body
that I normally show showing it someone
that I don't know will be scary for me
so when you're ready if you take your
gown off I was injured when I was about
one and a half years old and I was burnt
with really hot water my skirts cover
half my face my left hand my left
shoulder
most of my back and my chest sometimes I
feel quite held back by the need to
explain what happened to me I think
because my story can be quite difficult
I've just realised that I just have to
say I got injured as a teenager I
struggled quite a bit with just finding
who I was and how other people saw me
I'm hoping that by getting the portrait
done I'll be able to see myself in a
different light I feel like this is part
of my journey of regaining my confidence
I don't usually create a painting or a
piece in such a small time scale usually
I've got a bit longer to work on it and
so it will be a bit of a challenge
I'm excited nervous see how I guess
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okay so when you're ready if you take
your gown off
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he's your head naturally that color did
you die like light blonde naturally okay
so what I'm gonna do now I was gonna
like briefly sketch the outline of of
your figure how was that
when you went to school though for the
other kids are accepting towards your
squirrels all like was it a difficult
time for you I think what I definitely
found hard growing up was having to
validate it to other people I think I
struggled with the Battle of what do I
need to tell them or can they just
accept the fact that I have a scar
that's part of me and Who I am
what have people's reactions been like I
went on holiday with a friend and so she
was just putting a bit of Sun cream on
my back and a lady walked past and said
that I should cover up because nobody
wanted to look at it which I think was
quite hard it kind of shocked me because
I wasn't quite ready for that I think I
went for a big quite a confident happy
chirpy like child to like suddenly
losing all of my confidence
I felt really low I was insecure and I
just didn't want to have anything to do
with anybody
was there like a particular point in
your life when things turned around for
you so I think I spent a lot of time in
hospital from a really young age for me
the team in the hospital became quite
like family when I got adopted it was
actually my place specialists that opted
me so she had been there like all the
way through met me the first day I came
in and I was actually one of her first
patients and I think my parents have
always encouraged me to do things so
that instead of just giving up was like
actually if I want stuff to change I'm
gonna be the one that has to start doing
it I usually use Instagram but that's
only been in the last six to nine months
really it gave me the opportunity to
restart and I could be who I wanted to
be and it's definitely meant I can share
pictures of me doing normal things with
normal people to highlight the fact that
just because I have a scar it doesn't
mean that I'm living life particularly
different to any other 20 year olds so I
think that we're done with today we've
done a good few hours so I'll be working
on this tonight and we'll see what it
looks like tomorrow
I'm a bit nervous about the reveal
tomorrow paella works are really cool
but they're really big and bold and so I
can't really picture what I'm gonna look
like a tool say I'm excited but a bit
nervous as a I tried to get a lot of
youthfulness and playfulness within act
like bringing some bright colors through
to capture that nice light energy that I
got off ontari
I don't have a lot of time Seletar gets
here so always I want her to love it
and she's never had a painting done of
her scars before and so with her nervous
I'm quite nervous to see how I look
through someone else's eyes and to see
how she's done it I'm definitely really
excited but there's definitely like
nerves mixed in there how are you
feeling I was all right bit nervous now
let's go over look
oh wow wow that's amazing
you like that yeah
to see that someone has looked at me and
come up with something so amazing it's
really special I think it's just
brilliant I'm definitely proud of myself
like I think it really represents how
far I've come and anyone that feels
different in some sort of way you should
be proud of that keep going with what
you're doing and do more exciting things
and push yourself because the sky's the
limit
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you