Mental health has always hit me like a brick wall when any small, emotional bump in the road occurs. Everyone has their own forms and patterns of mental illness. Certain triggers affect some and not others. Anxiety and depression take turns coming to the forefront of my mind. Depression is like an approaching storm; the rumbling of thoughts that strike like thunder and lightning make me exhausted and unmotivated to grasp any inspirations of creativity. Anxiety is like a mental hurricane that continuously hits me in waves. The raging storm inside one’s mind can affect their perspective of life, as well as the environment and people around them.
Through introspection and understanding the patterns of my own struggles with mental health, in turn it has made me empathetic towards how others around me express their own emotions. I have learned to control my own anxieties when I feel someone around me might not understand their own outbursts. Anxiety and depression form a mask over the real identity of someone, thus forming a real understanding of mental illness is important. These manifestations of our worries and emotions are valid. Humans are of nature just like the weather and storms. Moments of chaos and destruction like hurricanes and tornadoes do not define the full identity of nature. Many things are affected by natural disasters, but the beauty of nature always comes back because of the cycle of life. If we can understand the shifting and changing patterns of the weather, why can’t we try to understand the shifts of the mind as well? Many people fall under the pressure of storms of the mind and cease the inner noise with a permanent fix because they feel alone. But if we as a society continue to talk and empathize with how we all struggle with our own chaos, many issues can be solved and emotional outrages can be extinguished.
My current series specifically pulls from the psychoanalysis of my own anxieties and depression and is communicated through symbols of figurative representation and the technique of the charcoal on bed sheets. The underlying context of why I only use my own female figure is because of the autobiographical state of the series. Visions of storms inside silhouettes contrasted with other forms of natural chaos portray the inner turmoil of anxiety and depression, and the effects on the environment around the person. Perspectives change depending on how one is affected by mental illness. As a visual artist, I use my platform to express the emotional memories from the anxiety and depressive episodes that form from my own negative experiences of past relationships and traumas. Through sharing my own thoughts and tribulations with my mind, I invite society and the viewer to reflect on the strength and importance of their emotions and those around them.
Through introspection and understanding the patterns of my own struggles with mental health, in turn it has made me empathetic towards how others around me express their own emotions. I have learned to control my own anxieties when I feel someone around me might not understand their own outbursts. Anxiety and depression form a mask over the real identity of someone, thus forming a real understanding of mental illness is important. These manifestations of our worries and emotions are valid. Humans are of nature just like the weather and storms. Moments of chaos and destruction like hurricanes and tornadoes do not define the full identity of nature. Many things are affected by natural disasters, but the beauty of nature always comes back because of the cycle of life. If we can understand the shifting and changing patterns of the weather, why can’t we try to understand the shifts of the mind as well? Many people fall under the pressure of storms of the mind and cease the inner noise with a permanent fix because they feel alone. But if we as a society continue to talk and empathize with how we all struggle with our own chaos, many issues can be solved and emotional outrages can be extinguished.
My current series specifically pulls from the psychoanalysis of my own anxieties and depression and is communicated through symbols of figurative representation and the technique of the charcoal on bed sheets. The underlying context of why I only use my own female figure is because of the autobiographical state of the series. Visions of storms inside silhouettes contrasted with other forms of natural chaos portray the inner turmoil of anxiety and depression, and the effects on the environment around the person. Perspectives change depending on how one is affected by mental illness. As a visual artist, I use my platform to express the emotional memories from the anxiety and depressive episodes that form from my own negative experiences of past relationships and traumas. Through sharing my own thoughts and tribulations with my mind, I invite society and the viewer to reflect on the strength and importance of their emotions and those around them.