Original Drawing of Kaylee On Paper Using Graphite, Charcoal and Ink.
I met Kaylee at a day center in Denver. Her tumultuous journey through life has led her from the shadows of abuse to the harsh realities of homelessness.
Kaylee’s tale is one of unimaginable hardship. Recounting her early experiences, Kaylee shared, “I never knew what a stable home felt like. It was chaos from the start.”
Kaylee’s childhood was marked by instability and neglect. Raised in an environment where her mother worked as a sex worker out of their home, Kaylee was repeatedly abused by her mother’s clients. “I was just a kid, but they treated me like I was nothing,” she reflected.
At age 10 Kaylee and her siblings were removed from the care of their mother and by age 11 Kaylee and her siblings were placed with a loving family in Arvada, a suburb of Denver.
At 13 years old, because she was the oldest and “most stable,” the state, in a misguided attempt to reunite her family, returned Kaylee to her mother’s care and left her two sisters with the family in Arvada. Tragically, within weeks, Kaylee was raped by one of her mother’s clients. After the rape, the man stayed in the house. As the night wore on Kaylee found herself consumed by a primal instinct for self-preservation. “I waited until he fell asleep,” she recalled, her voice trembling with raw emotion. “I grabbed a knife from the kitchen, walked to the couch and just kept stabbing him” she confessed, her eyes betraying a haunting mix of defiance and sorrow. “I felt I had to finally fight back, for myself, for my sisters.”
Following the incident, Kaylee found herself once again under the care of the state, deemed too much of a risk to return to the family with her sisters. From age 13 to 17 she was a ward of the state. At 17, she ran away and sought solace in relationships, only to find herself trapped in a cycle of addiction and abuse. “I didn’t know where to turn,” she admitted. “If someone showed me any good attention I would be in a relationship”
The birth of her child at 18 brought both joy and anguish, as Kaylee grappled with the weight of responsibility amidst the throes of addiction she put her child up for adoption. "I wanted to be a good mom, but I didn't know how," she confessed, tears welling in her eyes.
Amidst her struggles, Kaylee carries the burden of estrangement from her sisters, who remained under the care of a loving family when she returned to her mother's home at 13. "My sisters are living good lives now," Kaylee revealed, her voice tinged with longing. "But they don't speak to me anymore. I'm just a distant memory to them."
Now 23, she grapples with the weight of her past, her spirit burdened by the echoes of a life marred by tragedy.
In the face of adversity, Kaylee's spirit flickers like a dying ember, a testament to the fragility of hope in a world consumed by darkness. As the cold embrace of the streets envelops her, Kaylee's voice fades into the silence, a solitary echo of a life forgotten.
UPDATE:
Four months after this interview Kaylee's battle with addiction reached its tragic end. With no one to claim her body she was cremated by the county and her ashes buried outside the city limits. There was no funeral, no head stone, just a name written in the ledger book of a Colorado cemetery.
Size: 27 x 27.25 centimeters
Shipping is included. All artwork is shipped unframed and passionately packaged with the utmost love and care.