So I'm currently on the final stretch of college before the end of the year. I get to do a project on whatever I want for about 9 weeks or so before creating an exhibition space in college's 'Final Show'.
I have called my project 'Cranial Porcelain' as I have decided to base it on the delicacy of the human psyche as anxiety has become a large part of my life over the past 6 months or so, even thought I've been suffering from it for a good 6+ years. Mental 'health' is something that really interested me, it's not something you can see, nor can you understand it until you've suffered the same thing. It's a difficult thing to diagnose.
I'm currently focusing on the fact that you can't see anxiety or any other kind of mental illness. I'm figuring out different ways of illustrating the affects it can have on the body, such as fatigue, nausea, and rapid heart rate.
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I've done quick drawings on how I feel when experiencing different types of mental illness.
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This is an experiment showing what parts of my body are affected most. In this case there is tension in the forehead/brow area and a pressure/burning/discomfort in the chest.
Alongside my project I also have to keep a daily journal of whatever I find to be relevant. (It's mainly to help the examiners see my thought process, but I find it very helpful to keep my thoughts written down, as well as somewhere to write notes without interrupting my sketchbook work).
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A lot of my work is currently based on myself, as that's what I know best. But I will be broadening to the people around me as my project continues.
I tend not to talk about my mental health very openly, as it's unfortunately a subject that often isn't taken seriously if you're too open about it, nor is it considered appropriate for light conversation. So I'm finding my current project to be enlightening and therapeutic, but also somewhat triggering (my anxiety has boosted since started this project). Exploring your mental health and all of the little connections your mind makes is incredibly useful for judging your social standing and understanding why you are the way you are. I've learnt a lot about myself in the past 3 weeks of this project.
I'll occasionally post updates on this as well as my final exhibition! :3
This is really interesting! I think this is a very good way to help understand yourself a bit more, to express yourself and how you feel, and a very strong piece to work on. I did something like this for my GCSE art (didn't take art any further because I wasn't very good at it haha) except I based my art piece more around how I felt I never fitted in well anywhere and how I always seemed to stand out yet at the same time blend into the background. Looking back at it now I guess part of that might could have been to do with social anxiety but I don't know enough about that subject to say for certain. Plus I think to be completely honest the main reason for not fitting in was because while everyone else was off drinking and partying to whatever was popular at the time I was out skating on my own with headphones in listening to stuff like the Foo Fighters and Nirvana haha :P But I definitely think this is a really interesting piece to work on and I like it because on some level I feel I can relate to it. I think you've expressed yourself and the way you feel and how it actually effects you.
ReplyDeleteKeep up the good work :)
(P.S. You're not just talking to anonymous ghosts ;3)
Thank you for your kind words. I was beginning to think no one reads these haha :') I'm glad you liked it, and your project sounds interesting :3
DeleteAny time! Yeah I thought I'd give it a read for you :) The project I did was interesting for me because it made me actually think about what I think and feel because I was basing it on myself. However, I have this really irritating problem where I can image exactly how I want my work to look but just don't have the skills to pull it off the way I want it to look haha For my final piece I had to resort to using photoshop for a lot of it because that way I knew that I could create exactly what I wanted because I didn't have to make it, I just had to edit it correctly :P
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