Fitz Lewis

My work reflects the desires for external validation and highlights the social norms built to diminish those who struggle. I feel a need to aestheticize personal traumas and contextualize it with the culture at large:   

• Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder  
• Childhood Trauma  
• Combat  
• Undiagnosed Neurodivergence  
• Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder  
• Dyslexia  
• Physical Disabilities  
• Multiple Back Injuries  
• Unacknowledged Identities  
• Ones that have been complicit in oppression, thusly allowing for promotion of oppression.  
• Ones that would provide liberation of the self, thusly allowing for promotion of liberation.  

 Art, in my opinion, is at its best when the artist is completely vulnerable with their audience. I work with installation and performance to immerse the viewer and bring them outside of themselves. Hopefully this will require them to engage their empathetic abilities.   



I utilize shiny and/or highly textured surfaces as they will grab a viewers’ attention long enough for me to introduce the heavier themes of my content. These surfaces and textures also provide me with great comfort and relief in particularly stressful times. Burlap, concrete, and reflective materials all hold very deep meanings for me. Running my hands over them provides me with emotional comfort, looking at them gives me a feeling of safety and validation as they also represent the literal barriers that protected me during combat.