“Grippy Socks”

No one ever talks about their time in the psychiatric ward. I went when I was 19, after only 6 weeks at my university. That event changed the course of my life; I ended up dropping out for two years, and ultimately I went to a different school for a different major. I met my closest group of friends and the love of my life. I also remember the people I met in the hospital. “Grippy Socks” is about their stories.

Materials are integral to this body of work where I incorporate painting and lumen prints together. Much like memory, lumen prints are fugitive in nature. The work is also distressed, employing rips, drips, and blurry edges. This wear and tear represents how memories decay over time. Imagery of insects, plants, and wildlife gives symbolic meaning and context to the pieces, while Pearl-ex powder spread strategically throughout the pieces gives a dreamlike appearance.

It is impossible to identify the individuals in my paintings, but the stories I have written are as I remember them. In this series these figures function as an expression of individual struggles that often define our humanity. This work creates a conversation on the de-stigmatization of being committed to a mental institution.