I was a teenager when my illness began. I started ADS in 2008. Then I was on narcotics and began to abuse my mother and siblings. It was a dark place in my life. I have been encouraged by my peer and staff. Now I am on my road to recovery. The big part of this portrait is my big picture. It is a vision I have for the future. I was diagnosed in my 20s with Bi-Polar disorder. I spent ten years going in and out of East Alabama Hospital and Bryce Hospital. Through my father's occupation as an engineer I learned how to complete a piece of work and my families support, elders, peers; I learned to support others and myself to go forward with my recovery. Everything in this piece starts with respecting my father and mother as part of my big picture. The sand is the desert I had to travel through, the sky is the gloomy part of my life in mental health. The empire is the building that represents my big picture.