Anxiety comes in many forms and can feel vastly different from person to person. It can be debilitating, overwhelming, repetitive, controlling, jittery, suffocating, painful, and paralyzing. It is an experience that feels impossible to escape or understand. After exploring how we perceive and create images, I felt a strong desire to portray a depiction of the experience of anxiety. Creating pieces that expose a vulnerable and personal experience of the amplification of self-isolation and disconnect with reality due to the coronavirus has empowered me to connect with myself and work towards healing.
Color represents the overstimulation of technology, existing in an uncomfortable environment with little escape, and experiences with psychedelic influences that allowed me to shape the world in my mind. Additionally, my infatuation with vibrant, saturated color helps me escape. There is a shift in mood moving from the ‘welcome to my box’ series to the ‘breathing’ series due to my connection with nature, which I have utilized to heal within myself. The experience of anxiety does not simply disappear with the solace of breathing, meditation or yoga, but this is where my journey of self-guided healing through consistent practice begins. Working towards a healthier experience of being alive comes from within, because although external factors affect us significantly, our individual reality is controlled by the internal dialogue and world that the mind creates.
Mental health is not something my generation was taught to care for within oneself, but we have created an open conversation on the importance and effects on our quality of life. Through this work I hope to encourage this dialogue to flourish and to give those who feel alone in their experience the comfort that they are not.
welcome to my box
breathing
