Disease

This series of paintings covers mental illness. In painting scenes throughout my life, I am conveying the effects of mental illness. The scenes I am depicting are fairly common scenes: bathing, a party, even laying on the couch. But the odd angles of view, the disruption of space, and the chaotic layering all lend to a distorted perception. I personally suffer from social anxiety and major depressive disorder, two of the most common mental illnesses.

Though it is becoming more acceptable to talk about, there are still severe misunderstandings of mental illness, such as the colloquial use of phrases like anxiety and depression that do not denote the real effects these illnesses have on people. The characters I depict are easy to empathize with in their variety of traits shown in serious scenes of inner quarrel. I want to communicate an understanding that I have found through researching psychological studies. Mental illness is as serious as any physical illness, it is not always as simple as believing everything will be okay.