Recently, I had my opening at the Rachel Cooper Gallery, and it was a truly wonderful experience. So many people came that they couldn't all fit in the gallery space. The crowd was interested in my work, and I was even interviewed by a local radio station.
In this post, I will discuss some of the most asked questions from my opening, and share the answers with you.
Artist Statement:
Mental illness knows no bounds. It does not discriminate, nor judge. It has no opinion on monetary values, or age. Mental illness has no single face.
Mental illness is a little understood and often stereotyped condition that affects tens of millions of Americans each year-with approximately only half receiving treatment. For this body of work, I am focusing on mental illness in women. Because of gender roles, cultural expectations and societal treatment, women have a higher risk of developing mental illness. Due to the stereotype of women and their proneness to emotional problems, women who suffer from mental illnesses are often stigmatized.
When one admits they have a mental illness, they lie themselves bare to those whom they share it with-this feeling of vulnerability is what my work captures for each individual model. Working with natural light in the models home, and as nude as they feel comfortable, these photographs represent the nakedness that comes with admitting to having a mental illness. Often, the people we least expect are the ones fighting the biggest battles. By asking for a statement from each model, they share with us their creativity, their hopes, their fears, and themselves in regards to their own mental illness, or the view of mental illness through our culture.
By allowing my models this moment of exposure, this project expands from a simple portrait series to a collaboration of the reality of our own and the worlds mental illnesses. With the partnership of photography and personal statements, it is my hope that the viewers will walk away from this project with a more personal understanding of mental illness.
Where did you find your models?
I found my models by posting model calls on craigslist and Facebook. I knew 3 of my models before hand, and the rest I met the day of the shoot.
How did you decide where to shoot them?
It was very important to me to shoot them in their home. I wanted to shoot them each in a location that was important to them (their desk, vanity, bedroom, etc.) but I also followed the light. If the lighting was fantastic in a room other than what they considered "theirs" I shot them both. I usually ended up choosing the one with the more interesting lighting, as lighting is so important to me.
How did the models write their artist statements?
All models were asked to write a paragraph statement on "mental illness." I purposefully left it very open ended because I wanted to give them the opportunity to say whatever they wanted.
I photographed my models as nude as they felt comfortable to visually explain the feeling of vulnerability that comes with admitting one has a mental illness. I came to each models home about an hour before I actually planned to shoot so that we could talk and get to know each other before shooting.
Some of the models did, some of them didn't. I really let them lead the shoot, as their comfort was very important to me. One girl said she had a mental illness and then we talked about a cute dress she was going to get at the mall and what her plans were for the rest of the week. If they didn't want to talk about their mental illness, I didn't push them.
It's the end of this phase. Something that a few people had to say about my work has actually lead to my next body of work. I had people tell me that they didn't understand my body of work because my models didn't "look sick enough." And that if my models looked sadder that it would have been easier to understand. The idea that someone doesn't look "sick" is the whole point of my body of work. This idea of someone having to "look sick" is what is leading me to do a broader body of work focusing on invisible illnesses/disabilities in general. It is my hope that the more images people have of those who have invisible illnesses the less one has to "look sick" to be believed.
Thank you so much for your continued support. I can't wait to continue working and sharing it with you.
If you would like to see more of my fine art work, you can go to my fine art website, www.lexiebragg.com
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