Anxiety Project
For this project, I photographed both found objects and set up scenes that represent the symptoms of my lifelong anxiety disorder. When I first contemplated how to express my complicated anxiety in a visual form, I thought about things that have a sense of tension, obsession, and inescapability. In my photos, I used blur and mostly neutral tones with occasional pops of bright red, yellow and blue to symbolize the constant drone of anxiety that seems to control many aspects of my life and the sudden moments of extreme fear, panic, and worry that often arise.
Since my goal was to visually express the way that it feels to be inside my head, my aim is for the viewer to really feel my anxiety when looking at the photos, and even possibly relate to them in one way or another if they have similar experiences themselves. Since this was mainly an introspective project, I scanned pieces and pages from my journals and to-do lists to add a physical representation of the way anxiety affects me and takes over my daily life. For my presentation, I displayed the photos in a chaotic, imperfect, and collapsing way to communicate the way my thoughts and worries are all jumbled together and cause me to break down, isolate myself, and become confined in my mind. To further enhance the feeling of anxiety, I included ripped and crumpled pages on the floor in front of my display. I hope that this series enables others to understand how serious, destructive, and disabling anxiety can be, through my own personal representation of how it is for me.
Since my goal was to visually express the way that it feels to be inside my head, my aim is for the viewer to really feel my anxiety when looking at the photos, and even possibly relate to them in one way or another if they have similar experiences themselves. Since this was mainly an introspective project, I scanned pieces and pages from my journals and to-do lists to add a physical representation of the way anxiety affects me and takes over my daily life. For my presentation, I displayed the photos in a chaotic, imperfect, and collapsing way to communicate the way my thoughts and worries are all jumbled together and cause me to break down, isolate myself, and become confined in my mind. To further enhance the feeling of anxiety, I included ripped and crumpled pages on the floor in front of my display. I hope that this series enables others to understand how serious, destructive, and disabling anxiety can be, through my own personal representation of how it is for me.
Final Installation
Sample of Images
Scanned Notes, Journal Pages, and To-Do Lists