“One Day It’ll All Feel Better”

Self-Portrait

This photocollage is part of a series utilizing portraiture and collage as a medium to connect to deeper psychological experiences of anxiety, sadness, and growth. This piece, collaged from photos taken in my apartment, was created in response to a frequently heard - and initially dismissed - phrase meant to soothe me through a period of sorrow: "One day it'll all feel better." Surrealism was the goal. The fingers resembled wings and the house plant curling around them signified growth, as well as the hope that can spring forth from sadness.

“It Feels Like I Can’t Stop Thinking”

Model: Kamari Bright

Year: 2024

Anxiety strikes me suddenly and often. It feels alien, as if my body has been invaded by a foreign presence whose sole purpose is to distort reality into something eternally dangerous and eternally antagonistic. As my mind spirals into all the various worst-case scenarios a fearful imagination can create, I have learned to appear calm. To those viewing me in an anxious moment, I look calm, graceful, meditative. And yet, it feels like I can't stop thinking. It feels like a work of science fiction, existing in two planes of reality at once, unsure of how to ask for external help for an internal conflict.  This photocollage is part of a series utilizing portraiture and collage as a medium to connect to deeper psychological experiences of anxiety, grief, and growth.