Summer Assessment

Artist Statement- Final Exhibition

This piece is a large-scale, motorised. layered illustration exploring the theme of Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD).
It depicts a state of mind. The ferris wheel in the centre houses eight different identities of the same person, rotating constantly into states of paradise and abyss. BPD is a disorder of mood, and how a person interacts with others. In this piece I have tried to represent some of the main symptoms of the illness. There are nine criteria that need to be met for a diagnosis: Intense and unstable relationships, Fear of being left alone, Unstable sense of self, Engaging in impulsive and/or dangerous activities, Self-harm and/or suicide attempts, Severe mood swings, Long term feelings of emptiness, Sudden and intense feelings of anger and Dissociation. Unstable sense of self is seen in the eight personalities of the wheel, self-harm and suicide are represented in the drawings outside- the image of ‘death’ and the cut arm, severe mood swings is the turning of the wheel etc.
The illustration is black and white. The reason behind this is people with the disorder often experience the world in ‘Black and White’, seeing things as either good or evil, love or hate, idealising a person or seeing them as malicious etc. Nothing is just okay, indifferent or ‘Grey’. The act of cutting the board as well as nailing on the illustrations feel like quite angry acts and reflect well the content of the piece.
The main idea behind my work is personifying BPD. Translating something into an image is always a challenge, especially when it is a state of mind- however it helps people to understand better. Most people can relate to an image more than a diagnosis, or a dictionary definition. My hope is that my piece will bring BPD awareness and help non-sufferers to empathise.
My interest in this subject comes primarily from a personal experience with the disorder, I am constantly aware that I am experiencing the world differently to those around me, and by putting this into a physical image that everyone else can see makes me feel more heard. As well as phycological curiosity.
The style of illustration came naturally to me, but there are parallels between Tim Burton’s drawing style and my own. Burton has always been a huge inspiration to me and there is evidence of him in everything I create. The piece is also informed by Dominic McGill; his work is black and white and on a huge scale. Although his work is decidedly political, I enjoyed the fact that he uses hundreds of small drawings to fill up a big space- which encouraged me to move my practise onto a larger scale. The layered illustration came from ‘shadow box’ art. I first saw the shadow box concept in the Rijksmuseum, Gerrit Schouten. I was mesmerised by this layering effect, and how almost sculptural his work was. I have always admired the art of storytelling, and this technique did it well. The question from there was ‘what story did I want to tell?

 

 

A Tim Burton illustration

Dominic McGill, He Results As Cause Of Himself (2010)

Motor

I have got a small motor to make my Ferris wheel spin constantly on its own!

It works very effectively. The only issue is the cars keep getting caught but I’m going to fix that.