They Live Behind The Eyes
2022
In this project, I aim to explore the boundaries between the physical and the psychological. I focus on the topic of mental health, particularly my own experience with anxiety. The creatures within this installation embody internal anxieties which are often only visible through physical symptoms and coping mechanisms. It is a transportation into a world ‘behind the eyes’, and an exploration into the balance between the good intentions it possesses and the struggles it inflicts.
From personal experience, it can be hard to accept living with mental health struggles. Creating sculptures and pursuing this project has allowed me to embody mental companions into physical beings. It has been a therapeutic way to better understand how I relate to them, how they need me, and how they think I need them.
The objects themselves are materially driven, creating contrasts between the taboo subject matter of mental health and the approachable material qualities of paper mache, plaster pouring, paint, glue and glitter. They exist in the space to invoke reflection on how we interact with our anxieties. The project addresses the complexities of understanding how much of ourselves make up these anxieties and how much they make up of us; assisting in the personal acceptance of living with mental health struggles.
