Final Project

 For my final project I decided to a do a painting that brings up the topic of mental health. My painting shows the figure of a person greeting the viewer, but their face cannot be seen as it is clouded by a dark cloud-like mist that represents their mental health clouding their thoughts. With some spots of color around the figure but the dark is overwhelming. I chose this as my final project because this topic is one that is very important to me. So many people that I know including myself struggle with our mental health. With the pandemic, things became more complicated for people regarding their mental health. Some schools and jobs are actually taking it seriously and creating meetings regarding the topic. However, there is still work to be done in order for mental health to be taken more seriously by many. With my project I want to acknowledge mental health as something serious and must be taught how to be taken care of properly.

For my project I had some inspirations with artwork that I’ve seen through the years. One of them is the famous piece “Can’t Help Myself” by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu. Located in New York City, the famous piece displays a large robot with red liquid surrounding it. The robot shovels one part of the liquid only for the other side to spill further to the opposite side. The robots turns the opposite way and shovels the liquid toward it in order to clean up the mess. The more it tries to clean the mess, the more it spreads. This work is one of my favorites because of it’s simplicity of this important message. It also does a “performance” when it detects people watching. It does  sort of dance to get a reaction out of people, then when it detects the liquid getting too close to the edge it suddenly tries to clean the mess. There are people who have their own interpretations of what this piece is about. I like to think that this project is a reflection of people who try to do their best to please others but don’t take care of themselves with their needs. Another piece that I took inspiration from is a piece called “Smile Work Ahead” by PQHAUS. This piece shows a woman laying down on her with a clear expression of sadness and exhaustion. In front of her are tiny people that have two cranes with ropes attached to the end of her lips. The cranes begin to pull the ropes so she can form a smile. While doing this her eyes begin to water as she is forced to produce a smile. This is a piece I found recently and really enjoyed. I showed it to my friends and a lot of them found it interesting and relatable. They found it relatable to what some of them go through from time to time. A third piece of artwork that I found helped inspire my painting was “Mind Vomit” by Anonymous. This painting depicts how the painter feels in their mind. With rushes of anxiety, overthinking, negative emotions, all mixing together in a constant motion. Lastly, I was inspired by the painting “Tiger, Shark and Me Sit Down for Tea” by Emma Haddow. This painting features three individuals sitting at a table. The person sitting in the middle represents the artists, with the two sitting at her side representing anxiety and depression that’s been with her since she was a teenager. In the painting she shows herself facing her fears and the dark that lies beneath her surface.

"Can't Help Myself" by Sun Yuan and Peng Yu

"Smile Work Ahead" by PQHAUS

 

       

"Mind Vomit" by Anonymous

"Tiger, Shark and Me Sit Down for Tea" by Emma Haddow

          

I found three quotes from Kimberly Drew’s “This is What I Know About Art” that I feel connect to my project. One quote from the book stated, “Sharing art has helped me learn how to make myself heard and ask better questions.” (page 7). I relate to this quote because I hope my painting is something that people can relate to by looking at it. They’d feel understood and hopefully not alone when it comes to their own mental health. Another quote from the book that’s connected to my project is, “I’d spent my high school years at an elite boarding school feeling like the beneficiary of affirmative action, and while I knew I had potential, my grades were lackluster and an unwelcome reminder of my insecurities.” (page 13). She says how even though she had gone to an elite school it’s the insecurities within people that factors into their mental health. So many different things within a person’s life can take a toll on their mental health. The third quote that I connected with my work is, “The more art I saw, the more I wanted to share it with others.” (page 33). Artwork has the ability to relate and inspire others to share their own stories. By sharing artwork we see either verbally or electronically we can create our own ideas behind the meaning of certain pieces and start conversations. Especially with artwork that is meant to bring awareness to a certain topic, it can bring greater exposure to the topic and hopefully spark some action to be done toward the causes. 

I’ve used websites to help inform my project as well as real people to inform me about their own experience with mental health. With the websites that I used, I made sure that they were all ending with .gov, .org, .edu. If it ended in .com I still looked to make sure that it was from a reliable source rather than just a random website that isn’t meant for research purposes. I looked at the way mental health was described, especially with anxiety and depression and tried my best to interpret it in my own way for my painting. 

https://www.mentalhealth.gov/what-to-look-for/mood-disorders/depression 

https://www.nami.org/About-Mental-Illness/Mental-Health-Conditions/Anxiety-Disorders 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4953734/

https://www.skylandtrail.org/onset-of-mental-illness-first-signs-and-symptoms-in-young-adults/

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/08/24/well/family/young-adults-mental-health-pandemic.html