Artist: David Small
Literally the story of a young man whose voice is stolen, Stitches, David Small’s vivid recounting of a dark and harrowing childhood, often feels more like horror than memoir. Growing up in a ever-tense household where most forms of communication were non-verbal and involved slamming, punching or banging things, Small began escaping into his art at an early age. But his drawings soon become his only means of real expression when, at 14, what was supposed to be a simple surgery left him scarred and unable to speak. Small’s parents didn’t tell him he had throat cancer until after the operation made him virtually mute. Small’s subsequent journey from that living nightmare to seeing his dreams of becoming an artist realized is instantly engrossing.
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