Artist statement: These "pieces" quite literally explore pieces: of body, mind, heart, following the aftermath/glow of trauma, poverty, hope, and healing. They were created in an attempt to heal and deal with personal aspects of dissociation, mania, depression and trauma responses. Each piece is a way of "checking-in" with those aspects of self that need extra reminding of the good, the possible, and the light that lies just beneath the daily rubble.
Becoming a sanctuary by James Diaz
My body is no longer a weapon by James Diaz
The truth is polar darkness by James Diaz

James Diaz (They/Them) is the author of This Someone I Call Stranger, (Indolent Books, 2018) and All Things Beautiful Are Bent (Alien Buddha, 2021) as well as the founding editor of Anti-Heroin Chic. Their work has appeared or is forthcoming in Thrush, Corporeal, The Madrigal, Cleaver Magazine, Rust + Moth, Yes Poetry, Sledgehammer Lit, and Cobra Milk Mag. They live in upstate New York.