+
upworthy
Pop Culture

Daughter shares incredible 3D optical illusions painted by her father, who has aphasia

David Hollowell suffered from a traumatic brain injury in 2021, losing his ability to speak. Remarkably, he is still able to express himself through art.

david hollowell art, aphasia, aphasia treament, aphasia symptoms
@david.hollowell/TikTok

David Hollowell pictured with his 3D art

For a little over three decades, David Hollowell’s professional life had been dedicated to art. In addition to working as an art professor, his highly acclaimed 3D illusion paintings were shown in prestigious exhibits. In 2018, the 71-year-old began taking his talents to a larger scale, turning his family barn into an immersive mural.

Then, in May of 2021, Hollowell fell off the roof of his home, resulting in a traumatic brain injury leading to aphasia, a disorder that affects a person’s ability to communicate through speech or written language.

Though Hollowell couldn’t access words the way he used to, his ability to paint detailed, mesmerizing images remained remarkably intact. And his daughter-slash-self-appointed-TikTok manager, Adrienne, is determined to share his work and his journey with as many people as possible.



“I really wanted people to know who my dad was,” Adrienne shared in an interview with CNN. Hence why she created the account under the joke premise of “make my dad famous.”


So far, that goal has been reached—over 196,000 people follow Hollowell’s account, often comparing his work to that of M.C. Escher and Michelangelo.



And honestly, the comparison is well earned. Take a look below at some of Hollowell’s work, and keep reminding yourself that it’s actually 2D.

Paintings aren’t the only thing shared on the TikTok channel. Adrienne has also documented her father’s progress through videos of speech exercises and one-on-one interviews where Hollowell might relearn a word or two.

In an effort to raise awareness of aphasia, Adrienne also encourages her father to share his experience (to the best of his ability) and has reached out to viewers asking if they could share any new treatments.

What becomes clear from seeing their interactions is that where Hollowell might express himself differently, so much of his core identity, like his love for his art and family, still show through.

@david.hollowell I'm back ♡ #art #paint #draw #tbi #aphasia #mural #braininjury #create #inspire #charcoal #pencil #artist #illusion #davidhollowell #California #fyp ♬ original sound - David Hollowell

“You can't talk but your love is enough for us,” Adrienne expressed in a heartfelt video. “Your art and your family mean everything to you.”

Losing the ability to carry on a conversation, express ourselves, and generally navigate a speech-reliant world is a scary thought. And for those who have to witness a family member go through it…there are probably no words that fully encapsulate that kind of pain. But as this story highlights, even when those functions dwindle, love has a way of persevering.

Thank you, Adrienne, for sharing your father’s work with the world. Hopefully, we can help “make him famous.”

Teacher starts period in front of class, turns into a lesson

Teachers are almost always teaching even when it's not in their lesson plan.

Those that were born to be teachers find teachable moments everywhere and one woman found herself in one of those moments. Though this one was likely just a bit more personal than she probably would've liked.

Emily Elizabeth posted a TikTok video about how she found herself in a predicament in front of her classroom full of 10 and 11-year-old kids. The teacher explained that she was noticing a lot of commotion and whispering among the little girls in her class while she was wearing white pants. After reminding the girls to stay on task, the whispering continued, prompting Emily to be more direct.

That's when one of the girls asked to speak with her privately dropping the bomb that no one that gets periods wants to hear in public.

Keep ReadingShow less
Education

Gen Z is 74% more likely than other generations to want to homeschool their kids

Theirs reasons for wanting to homeschool and how they think it should be done departs from previous generations as well.

Canva

Homeschooling numbers in the U.S. have more than quadrupled since 1999.

It used to be that if you said the word "homeschooler," people would conjure up images of a Bible-carrying homesteader whose parents kept them out of school so they wouldn't learn about "dangerous" ideas like carbon dating and evolution.

While those kinds of homeschoolers still exist, the homeschooling world has become much larger and more diverse in recent decades. In 1999, there were approximately 850,000 students homeschooled in the United States. Before the COVID-19 pandemic, that number had tripled to an estimated 2.5 million, and in the past year, it's grown by over a million more to 3.62 million. These days, you'll meet homeschool parents from all walks of life who have chosen to educate their own kids for all kinds of reasons, moving the "typical homeschooler" stereotype further and further from reality.

Now we have a new generation of Americans thinking about how they want their kids to be educated. Gen Z is now 12 to 26 years old, with the 20-somethings at a prime age for starting (or at least imagining) their future family lives. Interestingly enough, they are even more keen on homeschooling their kids than their parents or grandparents were.

Keep ReadingShow less
Joy

Single woman shares the hilarious 'deal breaker' she uses when she doesn't want a second date

Jo Brundza has mastered the art of painlessly getting out of a second date by making them reject her.

How Jo Brundza gets out of a date.

It's uncomfortable for people to tell someone they met for a first date that they aren’t interested in a second one because nobody enjoys hurting another person’s feelings. TikTokker Jo Brundza has mastered the art of painlessly getting out of a second date by making them reject her.

How does she do it? Once she realizes she doesn’t want to see them again, she rants about the moon.

“From that realization and on, I spend the rest of the date trying to convince the other person that I don’t think the moon is real,” she says. Now, many folks out there incorrectly believe that the moon landing was faked, but she goes a step further by saying the massive object doesn’t exist at all.

Keep ReadingShow less

Daphne Berry has the best comeback to a catcaller.

It’s 2023, and unfortunately, catcalling is still a problem.

While some may dismiss it as harmless flattery, it can be extremely frightening to be sexualized in public by a stranger. Further, the object of the harassment, unusually a woman, has no idea whether the catcaller's intentions are dangerous or if they’re just being rude.

Australian TikTok star Daphne Berry (@berridaph) has gone viral for her quick-witted reply to a catcaller that turned the tide and made him the subject of humiliation.

Over the course of just 5 days, the video has been seen over 4.1 million times.

Keep ReadingShow less
@kelsewhatelse/TikTok

This is a playtime game changer

Independent playtime, as the name suggests, is an allotted period of time where kids are left alone to entertain themselves.

It’s not only a chance for parents to catch up on whatever emails, chores, rest, etc. that they might have fallen behind on, but an opportunity for kids to develop their imagination, problem-solving and self-reliance. And, you know, make friends with the voices inside their head.

But, as important as independent playtime is, it’s not always easy for parents to implement. Some kids have a hard time finding ways to entertain themselves without trying to involve mom or dad.

That’s where the ‘invention box’ comes in.

Keep ReadingShow less
Internet

Viewers watch in awe as the woman with world's longest fingernails finally gets them cut

It took more than 2 bottles of nail polish and 20 hours to paint her nails!

Viewers can't stop watching as woman cuts two foot fingernails

There's something about seeing something out of the ordinary, be it a strange animal, an accident or even an argument between strangers. Humans are naturally curious beings and seeing a random argument between your neighbor and her teenage son will have some people outside taking their goldfish for a walk just to gawk.

So it's not surprising that thousands of viewers tuned in when Ayanna Williams, the Guinness World Record holder for the world's longest nails went to have them all cut off. Williams had her record breaking nails for 29 years but decided it was finally time to bid them adieu and the entire thing was filmed. It's a monumental moment for the record holder after having lived with the 24 foot nails for decades.

Most of us would simply need to grab a pair of fingernail clippers and get clipping, but for Williams the process was a bit more complicated.

Keep ReadingShow less