About the Artist

About the Artist

Olivia Marta Brigham is the owner of Inspired by Grace. The business name is in honor of her daughter Natalie Grace who went to be with the Lord on October 2, 2003. Through a battle with the loss of her daughter and her health to Systemic Lupus Nephritis she continues using her life as a reflection of the miracles God performs everyday despite such circumstances.

Understanding grief through tragedy in her own life, Olivia desires to use her abilities and talents to initiate beauty in a world that so often demonstrates adversity. She is a graduate from Abilene Christian University with a degree in Youth and Family Ministry. Growing up in Springfield, Massachusetts, Olivia moved to Abilene, Texas to further her education and use her life as a testimony to the Lord. She had no idea at the time, God was preparing her for a life different from anything she ever imagined.

In January 2004 Olivia was diagnosed with severe Systemic Lupus Nephritis and spent three months at Hendrick medical center in complete kidney failure. Systemic Lupus Nephritis is an autoimmune disorder in which the body attacks healthy cells and in severe and rare cases, like Olivia’s, it attacks the organs. A team of doctors, she calls her “heroes,” stabilized her critical state with surgeries and numerous medicines and procedures. Finally, after much deliberation, she was placed on Dialysis as well as a donor/transplant list. The day her permanent dialysis apparatus was to be placed, her doctors noticed a significant change in her kidney function. Days later, knowing only 1% of dialysis patients ever discontinue treatments until transplant, Olivia’s kidneys showed healing and she terminated dialysis. Olivia’s disease, however, contained complications requiring on-going treatments of Chemotherapy for two and a half years.

Following her hospital stay Olivia was left weak and tired from enduring Chemotherapy treatments that ended July 2006. With her disease she is able to do photography when she has the energy and ability to do so. Using angles, lighting, and other learned affects, she captures life as a documentary photographer. Olivia is a member of the West Texas Photographic Society and continues learning and growing with people whose passion parallels her own. She competes bi-monthly and has placed in several competitions and even at the West Texas Fair and Rodeo. Please feel free to visit the West Texas Photography Site featuring her recent and past winnings as a member since 2005. In February 2006 she had her annual artist reception celebrating two years of Inspired by Grace Photography and expects to have her third reception in the spring of 2007. Olivia is happily married to her husband Bryan whose partnership in life, love and ministry is invaluable. Their love is strong and their friendship is even stronger because of what the Lord has done in them separately and together.

The Lord taught Olivia much through her progress both in her health and her business. Her photography is a ministry and a way to freeze a moment to remind us we are all on a journey. Whether you have been through good or bad, we all have a story to tell. We all have something valuable to show others. This is muse. This is Olivia’s passion to capture. Through her photography she has many opportunities to exercise her talents to serve the Lord and prays she can continue using her life as a way to show others of a God who can change something dreadful into beauty.

Olivia Marta Brigham is a true inspiration and blessing to all who know her and her story. She has accomplished much through her photography, writings, and simply by allowing herself to be a living testimony of the Lord’s wonders and healing.

"You will not grow if you sit in a

beautiful flower garden,

but you will grow if you are sick,

in pain, experience losses,

and if you do not put

your head in the sand

but take the pain

and learn to accept it,

not as a curse or punishment

but as a gift to you

with a very,

very specific purpose."

-Elisabeth Kubler-Ross-

If you have experienced the loss of a child or sickness in your life and need someone to talk to please e-mail me anytime. This website is a ministry not simply for business reasons, but also to offer a listening ear to those who wonder if life is even worth living sometimes. I understand the reality of pain and suffering and would love to pray for you. Please e-mail, and I promise to lift your name up to the Lord.

Read my journal.

All elements and photographs on this page and ibgphotography.com are copyrighted material. Saving, copying, or manipulating photographs in any way is an illegal federal crime resulting in court with the ability to sue for statutory damage.