Concentration statement
I have been assigned to choose a concentration for six pieces that will be completed through out my class. I sat down and really took my time to think of a concentration that I would be able to dive into and put my soul into. I went through a few various ideas and found that each one had the recurring theme of mental illnesses. I have been through a lot in my life and have experience with depression and anxiety, so something along the lines of mental illness would be the perfect concentration for me. I started brainstorming on ways that I might be able to convey these mental illnesses and thoughts about the unhealthy ways that we try to cope or deal with these issues. I decided to name my concentration "Poisonous Thoughts". I often find myself making excuses for why I feel the way I do, rather than facing my trauma and pain head on. I feel that this is relatable to a large population and allows me to lay out real emotions on my page. We so often tell ourselves that we are not enough or that it is not normal to feel these emotions, but I want to make it known that it is normal. It is normal to have mental illness. What is not okay, is when you deny the reasons behind your mental illness and avoid dealing with your problems. My concentration, "Poisonous Thoughts," is used to show how toxic and dangerous it is to neglect mental illness.
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Peace of mind
I was given an assignment to choose a concentration point for six art pieces. I chose "Poisonous Thoughts" as my concentration, so I focus on different disorders that are often "justified" by the victim through a toxic reasoning. In this piece my intention was to show the reader the disturbing truth behind anorexia. I used the tape measure to give an obvious message to the viewer. I formed it into a hand to show it was close to suffocating her, ready to kill her. I made the girl appear calm and collected to add contrast to the piece. She's calm, because she continues to fill her mind with toxic thoughts that constantly remind her, "You are only pretty if you're skinny," "The smaller the waste, the more beautiful you are," "People won't like you if you're fat." These thoughts make her okay with not eating and being underweight. She believes it is helping, even though it is going to kill her.
The concentration for this piece is "Poisonous Thoughts". The disorder behind this drawing is depression and the poisonous thought is "Maybe I can just sleep it off." In present times, we have many individuals struggling with depression, especially among the young adult and teenage years. I personally deal with my depression through distractions. It is very difficult for me to face my depression, so when I fall into one of my spells, I just tell myself I will be better after a nap or in the morning. Time can become hazy when you are drowning in your own depression, so when you go to sleep at 8 PM, you sometimes do not wake back up until 12 or 1. It is much better to face your depression head on, instead of trying to sleep off your emotions.
One last night
The concentration for this piece was "Poisonous Thoughts". This piece is based on the belief that women are only as good as their bodies. Many young women grow up looking at and idolizing over sexualized models. This plants a seed which grows into a toxic mindset that your self-worth is found within the beauty of your body, not your mind. This creates psychological issues later on that create a hate relationship with women and their bodies. Disorders like anorexia, bulimia and other eating disorders are commonly linked with this ideology. Another large issue that this mindset creates is the willingness that women have to give their bodies up to men that do not deserve it. Many high school relationships are built on the foundation of sex. These relationships are found on the belief, "If I give my body up, I will receive love in return." In my drawing I have flowers growing on the sensual parts of the woman that represent what society believes is valuable. I have vines wrapped around the the woman's ankles and wrists representing the bondage that social standards have on women. These vines come up and wrap around the face, suffocating the true beauty of the mind.
Garden of deception
rain=growth
My concentration for this piece was "toxic thoughts". I decided to make this one about how we always tell ourselves that we're broken, but we always forget that flowers can't grow without rain. We become stronger after every battle we face. The girl has a very "over it" look on her face with a cloud raining over her head. This represents the depression we face when we go through hard times, but then you notice that there are flowers beginning to blossom around her. These represent the growth that we don't always recognize during our hard times.
drowning in sorrow
My concentration was "poisonous thoughts". This piece depicts a eye with the reflection of someone drowning. We often tell ourselves that we are fine or we're told not to cry, so we are forced to hold that emotion in. The girl drowning represents the soul. When we keep our emotions in we slowly die inside. We need to make sure we are expressing ourselves and remembering that it's okay to cry.
shhh
My concentration was "poisonous thoughts". This piece depicts a eye with the reflection of someone "shhing". When traumatic things happen we are told not to talk about them. We are expected to keep quiet and act as if everything is fine, when it is not. Although the stigma is slowly breaking, we still have others telling us that we shouldn't talk about our issues and we tell that to ourselves. We need to tell ourselves that we can talk about it. We need to start telling our stories about depression, rape, suicide. As a society we have to break those stigmas and talk.