Cocoon
2021
We as a population generally contain our emotions, anxieties, depression, and other mental illnesses, creating a shell around ourselves. This shell blocks these struggles from others, often times causing them to overflow within our minds until our breaking point. Cocoon displays the ways in how we build this shell to contain these struggles, holding them as we feel too fragile to expose ourselves to others. Using self portraiture and my own body, I manipulate multiple photographs to build a shell around myself and my mind with my own hands, showing my personal depiction in the ways I hide my own emotions and struggles.
Released
2021
Released is a personal response to the first time I experienced a therapy session. Having always struggled with my own internal problems alone, I found a breath of relief upon airing my ails with another, another who specializes in helping others with similar issues. Released was made from self portraits of my own body, manipulating each limb and body part to build the composition. During the time I struggled alone, I found myself constantly drawn to Bring Me The Horizon’s song, “One Day the Only Butterflies Left Will Be in Your Chest as You March Towards Your Death”. Listening to these lyrics, I began to imagine this image within my mind. From this imagination, I found the inspiration to build my own way of expressing these emotions. Within the images, “butterflies” of my own hands emerge from my chest, symbolizing this release and freedom from the struggles that held me down.