Nicole's Story Behind The Painting:

I'll tell the story of this painting with a poem I wrote, the same words also incorporated into the work itself.

I ache for the story I am yet to tell, a story of a young girl with bountiful joy bursting from her chest, and a head full of many dreams, for her imagination could spin endless imagery.

The sharp pounce, pain undulating and pulsing from my breastbone, derives its dagger-like feel from the shameful acts of a man I cannot fully, completely, recall.

How many little girls are there, ones like I was, who suffer such an ache without a word of it communicated, the shame turned inward due to silence?