Minnesota Brain Injury Survivors Mark 10 Years of ‘Unmasking Brain Injury’

MINNEAPOLIS (FOX 9) - The Minnesota Brain Injury Alliance is observing Brain Injury Awareness Month by marking the 10th anniversary of a groundbreaking project called Unmasking Brain Injury. 

The art project allowed brain injury survivors to paint the stories of their brain injuries on masks, injuries that too often go unseen.

A decade of storytelling through art

By the numbers:

The Minnesota Brain Injury Alliance started asking survivors to paint masks nearly 10 years ago, giving people a way to show the challenges they face after a brain injury. 

These injuries are often invisible, making it hard for others to understand why survivors might struggle with thinking, speaking or behaving the way they once did.

The Minnesota Department of Health estimates there are more than 100,000 people in Minnesota living with a disability from a traumatic brain injury, or TBI. It's a leading cause of death and disability, most frequently caused by falls.

By asking survivors to tell the stories of their injuries through art, it empowered them to show others their struggles that are often invisible.

"We have had over 2,000 masks made over the decade that we have been doing this," said Brad Donaldson, president of the Minnesota Brain Injury Alliance. "It becomes a way that individuals know they are not alone."

Jen and Amber-Rose's Story

Dig deeper:

Among the first brain injury survivors to paint a mask was Amber-Rose Kordiak. She was just 11 years old in 2017 when she started creating the mask to tell the story of a farm accident that scarred her face and injured her brain after a tractor tire fell on her head. At the time, she painted her mask with a giant weight on the forehead.

"That was like the biggest thing because it really truly does feel like living with this is very heavy, and physically and mentally you feel that weight," said Amber-Rose in a recent interview.

Her mother, Jen Kordiak, painted her own mask at the time from the perspective of a caregiver. Jen created her own mask as a witness to her faith and included a ladder to heaven.

"What I've put my sights on are just the miracles of this Earth," said Jen, describing her mask made all those years ago. "Sunsets, and that little bird that lands next to you and makes you happy."

Making Their New Masks

What they're saying:

To mark the 10th anniversary of Unmasking Brain Injury, the Minnesota Brain Injury Alliance invited both Amber-Rose and Jen to create new masks to reflect their journey with a TBI.

Amber-Rose has now grown to become a fashion-forward 20-year-old woman with long flowing blonde hair, a passion for art, and will soon graduate from Pine Technical Community College with an associates degree in liberal arts. She used her artistic skills to create an intricate mask dominated by darkness.

"The bottom is visibly burnt and charred," said Amber-Rose describing her new mask. "That shows the fact that for me when I try to open up and speak, I feel like being suffocated."

For context, she described how when she was six years old, before the accident, she was quite honey-tongued. "I had the biggest desire to socialize and talk to people, and I've kind of lost that now because I'm more of a private person," said Amber-Rose upon reflection.

"On the side, it says 'embrace imperfection,’" she elaborated. "It is a good reminder for those who struggle with feeling imperfect because of the damage."

Jen remade her mask with heart-shaped mirrors over the eyes to reflect on how others see and treat her daughter. 

"I hope that other people will see their reaction, see their treatment of her through the mirror, and then realize, oh, that's not how I want to be treated," said Jen.

The impact of the mask project

Why you should care:

The mask project has helped survivors find new ways to connect and share their stories.

"We expected this to have some impact, but to watch how this truly spoke to so many different facets of the brain injury community and brought them together and created these new connections and new inroads and new paths and new bonds was amazing," said Donaldson.

The project reminds people that the journey with a brain injury never really ends.

"There’s people that are going through more than anyone could imagine and you don’t see it," said Amber-Rose. "So it brings to light the struggles while also bringing compassion into it too for people."

The Minnesota Brain Injury Alliance will hold a public viewing of many of the mask created during the past 10 years at an event on Saturday, March 28, from 5:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Crayon Kelly Experience Gallery at 1628 West End Boulevard in St. Louis Park.

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