AP Drawing

This series of works was created for my 2018-19 AP Studio Art: Drawing portfolio. The following is the Artist’s Statement as submitted.

This portfolio explores my brain and perceived reality as I struggle with Obsessive Compulsive Disorder, anxiety, and depression. I wanted to explore the different compulsions, rituals, intrusive thoughts, anxieties, and aspects of my life that affect the way I see the world and my overall reality. Overall, this portfolio really serves to tell my story and provide me with an outlet to analyze my life and relate to others what I experience. Each piece has its own theme and is heavy with symbolic imagery and choices. For example, in the second piece titled Anxiety/time, the heart represents the racing of my heart and the tightness in my chest during bad moments of anxiety. The brain shows where all of the symptoms come from and my inability to escape my own thoughts. The spilling pill bottle represents the medicine I take every day to help my brain produce the chemicals it lacks. The eyes represent the discomfort I have when I make eye contact with others. The nose and mouth represent a tactile compulsion in which I feel the need to trace around these areas with my fingers. I chose to represent these images on a black background because they are negative aspects (the black areas in other pieces represent negatives as well). Every aspect can be analyzed just as deeply as this and holds just as much meaning, such as in the pieces titled Luck/superstition, where I depict rabbits and poker chips with lucky or unlucky numbers in order to represent my superstitious compulsions. Every aspect of each piece, whether it be the subjects or my design choices, symbolizes something about how my brain works and what that means in my life as a whole.