Lila Graves

When she was 25 years old, Lila Graves was diagnosed with melanoma and given six months to live. She underwent surgery, freaked out, made deals with God, then went to Mexico to paint until her life ended. Once there, Lila resolved to be an angel on earth before becoming an angel in heaven, and she made a pair of wings out of palm fronds and feathers. She wore these every time she left the house, every day for two months, everywhere. And when she returned to Alabama, Lila was cancer free.

That was ten years ago. Lila still paints every day and spreads her joy abundantly around the country. Of her work, she says, "My whimsical style is an untrained voice, because of my self-healing. I had to go back to that child to discover who I was. That's how this artwork was born. I know which voice I need to talk in to take care of myself, and sometimes my child voice is the one that heals the unhealthy imprinting of my past.